


How Jack Met Sally

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolves are still a thing, Alternate Univese, Baker Derek Hale, Bakery, Bets & Wagers, Derek Does Yoga, Derek Hale Takes Care of Stiles Stilinski, Fluff, Getting Together, Halloween, Halloween store owner Stiles, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles, Stiles Does Yoga, Yoga, meet cute, sterekmeetcute, sterekweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 10:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12529248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: He's done it, he's finally, FINALLY done it! Stiles Stilinski has finally opened the Halloween store he always dreamed of, but... none of his dreams ever wentquitelike this...He had never dreamed that opening his store would lead to a long standing relationship with the neighboring baker, possible pack mergings, and a very weird financial give and take between the bakery and the store... well, truth is stranger than fiction, maybe reality is stranger than dreams





	How Jack Met Sally

**Author's Note:**

> Here's day three of Sterek Week! This one ended up VERY differently than I planned, I actually originally wanted Stiles and Derek to meet at a book club and to center the story on Derek's pack, but... oh well, hopefully this turned out alright anyhow

There are moments in life when you just instinctively know that something is about change

When something is about to impact you in a monumental way

This was not one of those moments

"Hey uh... do you do custom cakes?"

Derek glanced up slowly, head tilting as he set aside the note he was writing and turned his attention to the man in front of him

He was tall, pale, with dark brown hair and moles splattering his skin, lean and baby-faced with giant coffee colored doe eyes and soft, plush looking pink lips

Derek made the choice to ignore all of that

"Yeah, we do,"

"Great! I need a Halloween cake, do you think you could possibly have it made by tommorrow?"

That was a short deadline, but if it wasn't complicated...

"Depends on how complicated it is, what exactly do you mean by 'Halloween cake'? Do you have anything in mind?"

"Well.... no, not really, just as long as it's Halloweenish, you know, pumpkins, ghosts, that sorta thing,"

Derek nodded slowly, tearing off the note he had been scribbling on and sticking it underneath his notepad, the instructions for what needed to be ordered today could wait

"How big do you need it to be?"

"Uh.. I don't know.... I have no idea how cake sizing works,"

"How many people does it need to feed?"

"Oh... thirty-ish?"

Well, that was a start he supposed

"What flavor do you want?"

Judging by the look on the stranger's face, he clearly hadn't given this much thought

"Um... chocolate...?"

"What kind of chocolate? Plain chocolate? Double chocolate? Chocolate truffle? Black Forest? German Chocolate? Red velvet?"

Clearly, the customer was at a loss, he looked a little.... dumbfounded

"Red velvet has chocolate in it?"

Derek always found that question amusing

"Red velvet has chocolate in it," he smirked back

"Ok then red chocolate, for sure, I mean- ... red velvet! God..."

Derek bit his lip, trying to restrain a snicker, he knew the guy was probably just nervous or tired or confused and it wasn't nice to giggle at him but ... well, it was a little funny

"Ok, red velvet, feeds thirty, Halloween themed, anything else?"

"Um, yeah, I need four dozen cupcakes- half chocolate and half vanilla- and six dozen cookies of various flavors, just as long as it includes chocolate chip,"

Derek paused, eyebrows raised

"All by tommorrow?"

"Yeah if... that's ok? And um, Halloween themed too?"

Against his better judgement, Derek nodded, starting to jot down the rest of the order

"GREAT! Thank you so much! Um... this isn't going to cost more than two hundred bucks right?"

The baker paused, glancing up at him slowly

"Definitely not,"

"Good, great, then I'll see you tommorrow!"

Derek didn't even get the chance to try stopping him, the shout of "Wait!" dieing in his throat as the customer rushed out of the bakery

"You didn't say what TIME tommorrow..... or your name....."

 

~+~

 

Stiles was not having an easy day

This was supposed to be a GOOD day

The BEST day!

This was the day of the grand opening for his store and he couldn't let it get ruined, he was DETERMINED

Ofcourse, that was before his morning became such a wreck, between dropping his breakfast and not having time to make more, his car playing the "Let's see how many times it'll take for me to start" game, and the road-rage inducing traffic...

He wasn't having a good day

So he just hoped things at the bakery would go significantly better

The moment he walked in, he knew.... that that probably wouldn't be the case

The cute baker with the bushy eyebrows from yesterday was gone, although the person taking his place looked nice enough, he just had kinda hoped to talk to the cute baker dude again

"Hi!! Welcome to King Of Hale's bakery!! Are you here for something special or just wanting to browse?"

"Um... here to pick up an order actually, it's for a Halloween cake?"

The girl behind the counter, who looked no older than he did, seemed to light up like a Christmas tree at that notion

"Ohh!! You're that guy!! Um, hang on, the owner made everything last night and I don't know where he put it," she said quickly, spinning on her heel and pushing open the doors behind her

"Malia! Where's Derek!?"

_"He just stepped out, why?"_

"Halloween Guy is here!"

There was a short pause before Stiles heard stomping around and clanging and banging of dishes, possibly things falling to the floor

_"I'll go get him!"_

The nice girl from the counter turned back to him, a bright, almost blinding smile on her face as she rushed back towards him

"He'll be here really soon, promise,"

He nodded slowly, he wasn't really in a hurry, he had come early this time so he would have plenty of time to spend at the bakery in the hopes of seeing the cute baker again

And it looked like his caution paid off

"I'm Kira, by the way," the girl behind the counter said cheerfully, reaching out to shake his hand

"Oh, um, Stiles," he shrugged back, reaching out and giving her hand a firm shake

"Stiles! Nice to meet you, are you new around here?"

Ironically... he had actually lived here his entire life...

"Uh, no, I've always lived in Beacon Hills actually, but I just put my store up a few blocks away from here so I'm getting to explore this side of town for the first time,"

"Oh really? That's so cool!! What's your store?"

"It's a Halloween store, and a supernatural-aid store, it's called Hocus Pocus, down on Apple Street, we're gonna open tonight,"

"Really? Oh that's so cool!!"

Unfortunately, Kira didn't get the chance to continue gushing, as the doors to the back suddenly swung open, the cute baker from yesterday tumbling out with a slightly annoyed, slightly anxious look on his face

"Oh uh... hey dude,"

Cute Baker looked rather flustered, straightening up and clearing his throat

"I'll get your order," he said quickly, dashing back into the back

"Um... ok, I'll just... wait here then," Stiles called back a bit awkwardly

Either this guy was unprepared or just... painfully shy, he wasn't sure wich

Luckily though, he wasn't gone that long, coming back a minute later with a large box, setting it on the counter as another girl followed behind the baker with a couple of smaller boxes

"Um... this is the cake," he said quietly, opening the lid to the larger box

Stiles was... well, AMAZED didn't begin to describe it, he was blown away!

The cake was round- like a sphere- in the shape of a Jack-O'-Lantern, with beautifull black filigree drawings etched into it, depicting quite beautifull depictions of anything creepy or Halloweenish, from skulls to gravestones to spiders to witches on broomsticks to mummies....

It was a masterpeice and Stiles kind of wanted to _frame_ it rather than _eat_ it

"This is ... this is incredible!! God you did this in ONE. NIGHT!?"

It was hard to believe it had been done at all but in a single night?

That was almost COMPLETELY unbelievable....

"That's not all," the brunette next to him stated, sliding the other boxes onto the counter next to the cake

The baker seemed a little annoyed at this, but ultimately put the lid back down on the cake box and started opening the other boxes instead, revealing the cupcake and cookie orders

And if Stiles thought the cake was amazing....

The cupcakes were shaped like little cauldrons with icing that looked like smoke on top, varying in colors from pretty much every spectrum of the rainbow, and with little orange or black Halloween figures- again with the spiders, skulls, witches, etc- sitting neatly on top of them, likely pinned in with toothpicks

"The um... orange are vanilla, the black are chocolate," the baker said a bit awkwardly

Stiles only nodded his understanding before turning his attention to the cookies, eyes just as wide and mouth just as open as before

The cookies were just as decorative and fun as the cakes, shaped in little pumpkins and ghosts and spiders, black cats and cobwebs and cauldrons- and others too

And they were all covered in the same weird, flat material that the cake and cupcakes were- fondant..? Was that what it was called?

"There um... there's a card in the cookie box... it's a guide to tell you wich designs are wich flavors," the baker said a bit shyly

"Wow, like a box of chocolate truffles! That's so sweet, thanks dude,"

The shy baker nodded, biting his lip as he started ringing things up on the register

"Derek will help you carry this stuff to your car, right?" Kira asked with a cheerfull smile

Derek- apparently the name of Cute Baker, good to know- blinked up in surprise, eyes wide and mouth partly open before seeming to regain his senses and turn his attention back to the cash register

"Yeah I'll... I'll help... Kira will you tell Malia to come and help us with the cupcakes?"

Kira gave a quick nod, rushing into the back and thus leaving Stiles alone with Derek- wich is exactly what he wanted to begin with...

Too bad now he was at a loss for what to say

"This stuff looks AMAZING, by the way, how the hell did you do it all in one night?" he asked, mostly just to get a conversation started

"Yeah, it... it isn't as impressive as you think," he shrugged back

"I absolutely fail to believe that, it's ENTIRELY impressive my freind," Stiles smirked back, grabbing his wallet from his pocket and hurrying to pull out the cash he needed to pay for the pastries

"Don't let him fool you, he was up most of the night working on it," came another voice

Stiles glanced behind Derek, spotting a woman with short brown hair and a mildly irritated look on her face

"I ... it wasn't... ALL night," Derek frowned back, eyes narrowed

"Well you were here when I got here so close enough," the stranger snorted

"I'll get the cake, Malia will get the cupcakes, can you get the cookies and show us to your car?" Derek snipped shortly

Stiles gave a slight shrug, grabbing the boxes of cookies and stepping towards the door, he could probably get all of the boxes himself but Derek had spent so much time and energy on all of this stuff that he could understand why the baker wanted to be cautious

Derek and Malia followed suit with their own boxes, following Stiles out of the bakery as Kira took over behind the counter again

"So... what's with all the Halloween stuff? It's September first, isn't it a little early to be cracking out all of the skulls and pumpkins?" Malia asked

"Funny you should ask actually, I own a Halloween and magic store that just opened a few blocks away, it's opening today, actually, wich is why we're having a big party and doing all the pastries,"

"Opening day party?" Derek guessed

"Not exactly, we don't open until midnight, you know, like a midnight release party? Like when a highly anticipated book comes out? I mean, it's kinda corny I know but I thought it was pretty fun, the cupcakes and cookies are for the opening later tonight, but the cake is just for me and a few close freinds who are celebrating this with me- few, but, I mean, werewolves, so extra cake is required,"

Judging by the looks on Derek and Malia's faces... they clearly didn't expect him to know about the supernatural

"And just so you know, the 'magic' portion of the store isn't like... 'rabbit out of a hat' magic, it's ACTUAL magic, what with me being a witch and all, we have magic stuff, herbs, and all sorts of things for fellow supernatural folks, if, you know, you ever want to swing by," Stiles offered, opening the trunk of his car and sliding the boxes of cookies in

"Yeah I... I'll do that, in fact I'll bring my pack with me, tonight, for your opening," Derek offered

Malia's head wipped around, a look of _"Why the HELL would you do that!?"_ on her face

"Really!?" Stiles beamed

"Really," Derek confirmed, sliding the cake into trunk, nudging Malia to copy him

Wich she did... albeit a little reluctantly

"Wow, super! Thanks man, I'll see you there! Sadly I've got a few more things to clean up before tonight so I have to go but... I'll see you tonight!"

Derek nodded, smiling shyly and waving as Stiles shut the door to the back of his jeep and ran to the driver's side of the car, getting in and cranking up the engine

"Are you insane?" Malia frowned, irritation clearly present on her face

"Laura is always saying I should get out more," Derek shrugged back, turning to start back to the bakery

"Yeah but did you really have to bring all of us down with you?"

"It's a store full of little scary things Malia, you should feel right at home there,"

 

~+~

 

"Wow, I can't believe it but this place is actually starting to fill out..."

Stiles was beaming like the sun, eyes practically glowing as he bounced on his feet and stared around at the array of customers who had come in

"See Lydia? I TOLD you this was a good idea!"

"I have to admit... I thought it was stupid, but I was wrong... I guess I really do underestimate the nerd community," she smirked back teasingly

Stiles rolled his eyes, snorting and leaning against the counter

"Hey, it isn't JUST nerds, ok? Halloween fanatics are a brand ALL their own,"

Lydia shook her head, about to say something else- when Stiles suddenly let out a loud squeak and hurried out from behind the counter

"What is it boy? See something you like?" she teased

"It's the cute baker I told you about! He's here!"

That actually seemed to get her attention, head tilting as she turned her attention towards the door, eyebrows raising slightly as the small pack of werewolves started to file in

"You mean De-"

Unfortunately, Stiles rushed off before she could finish

"Hey Derek! You made it!"

Derek glanced over in Stiles' direction, smiling a little shyly at him and giving a quick nod

"Yeah, I said I would, right?"

"Yeah well, you know how people get about these things sometimes, they say they'll do something and then they don't so..."

"I'm not like that," the werewolf replied simply

"Apparently," Stiles grinned back

"I um... I brought my pack too but they seem to have spread out by now," Derek noted a second later, a clear look of annoyance on his face

"That's fine, I mean, atleast they're here right? I can just meet them later,"

For some reason, that seemed to really please Derek, a soft, happy look on his face

"Yeah... later," he agreed

Stiles rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat quietly

"SO! You uh... like Halloween?"

"Love Halloween,"

"What tickles your fancy decoration wise?"

"Honestly? Anything that isn't tacky... or cobwebs,"

"Can't do the cobwebs huh?" Stiles teased, nudging his new kinda sorta freind forward to follow him

"I- .... no, besides, I don't really have room for them, I have an apartment I have to keep it kind of ... contained, outdoor won't really work,"

"Is it a small apartment?" Stiles asked curiously

"No, it's pretty decently sized,"

"Cool, cool, so atleast you have SOMETHING to work with,"

"Right," Derek nodded, jumping slightly as a werewolf prop started rattling the cage it was in and growling as Derek and Stiles passed by it

Huh, ironic...

"Do you like 'Scream' Derek? You know, the film franchise?"

"And the TV series, yeah, I'm a big fan of it,"

Ohhh, he just HAD to mention the TV series...

Stiles was falling in love here

"Then boy do I have something you're going to enjoy," the witch grinned, leading Derek past another few animatronics- including a lunging zombie wich made Derek jump again

"Take a look at this beauty!"

Derek's eyebrows raised, staring at the prop in front of him

It was a life-sized Ghost Face, a motion activated one apparently, considering that once Derek moved in front of it the prop raised the plastic nife it was holding

 _"You're a survivor, aren't you Sydney? But what good is it being a survivor if everybody around you is dead?"_ the animated voice said

"Wow..." Derek breathed, lips breaking into a grin

So he was a _little_ bit of a horror nerd, and "Scream" _just so happened_ to be his favorite franchise, and he was planning on buying something from Stiles on opening night anyway so....

"How much?"

"$250, plus twenty-five percent off because of our opening night sale,"

"I'll take him,"

Stiles gaped, eyes wide and mouth open

"Wah-... wait, seriously? Are you sure?"

"Positive," he nodded

Sure he didn't know what he would DO with the life-sized prop exactly, since he never hosted Halloween parties or anything, and this sorta thing wasn't exactly a draw for kids, and... what the hell was he going to do with it for the rest of the year...? He didn't have room to store it in his apartment... but he could keep it around anyway... somehow, right?

"Wow, ok!! Well um, since this is the first purchase of the night, we actually have a .. surprise sale going on, for the first purchase of the night, you know? Like a prize sorta thing, it's actually another fifty percent off from that too,"

Was he serious?

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Totally, absolutely,"

"That... wow, that's incredible..." he paused, rubbing the back of his neck

He had sort of wanted to ... well... give Stiles a bit of a bigger sale, not that $62 wasn't... decent.... but...

"What else can you show me?"

 

~+~

 

"Bye!! Enjoy your treasures!" Stiles shouted, waving enthusiastically as he watched Derek shut the trunk of his car

Derek waved back as he approached the driver's side, finally sliding in and shutting the door

Stiles watched with fondness as the werewolf drove off, feeling kind of ... disgustingly lovesick if he was being entirely honest

He sighed quietly- kind of longingly- as he shut the door to the shop and turned around to go back in, screaming and jumping suddenly as he locked eyes with Lydia- who was right in front of him, because _ofcourse she was_

"Crimany Lyds, was that necessary!?"

"How much did you discount that stuff for?"

"What?"

"How. MUCH. did you give him as an 'I wanna date you' discount?" she frowned deeply

"Not... not... THAT much..." he squeaked quietly

Lydia looked entirely unamused, and worse, entirely disbelieving

"It wasn't that much! Besides, he was our first customer! And he spent _**ALOT**_ , can you really blame me?"

"Yes, yes I can, you gave him the FLIRTING discount, and don't even try to deny it, we both know you did," she huffed, turning on her heel and heading towards the counter

"L-Lydia..? Lydia where are you going!?"

"To check the receipts, you asked me to help you manage your finances Stiles and I'm going to do that weather you like it or not,"

Stiles paled, rushing to chase after her

"L-Lydia wait! You have to understand, he just kept buying things!"

Now, Stiles had heard Lydia's banshee scream before....

But NOTHING compared to the way she screamed when she saw that receipt....

 

~+~

 

"I think I'm going to have to murder Stiles, just as a head's up,"

The brunette nodded slowly, sipping her tea and leaning back against her chair

"Out of curiosity- why?"

"Because the amount of money he discounted on the things he sold your brother is so obscene it should come with an R rating," Lydia replied with a sigh

"Funny thing is, Derek only kept buying things because Stiles kept discounting things,"

"Oh how tragic, Stiles only kept discounting things because Derek kept buying them," Lydia said with a small smirk

"What a pair, they'd be little holy terrors at Christmas,"

"No kidding, between Stiles' natural holiday anxiety and the fact that Derek's birthday is on Christmas..."

"And Derek always wants to go all out for Christmas, getting people gifts that are stupidly expensive and obscure that he's _sure_ no one else will give them..."

Lydia chuckled lowly, shaking her head and taking a sip of her own coffee

"Yeah.... shall we aim for November 1st then?"

Derek's sister shook her head, waving off the suggestion

"We shouldn't have to wait that long, give them some time, some space, some ... _coincidental meetings_... I'd expect it some time in October, at the latest,"

Lydia smirked a little more, eyes lighting up as she leaned back in her chair

"I like your thinking Laura,"

 

~+~

 

When Derek had spent time at Hocus Pocus the first time, it had been entirely in the Halloween portion of the store

He hadn't bothered to venture into the magic and supernatural section, partly because he was so enthralled by the Halloween stuff, but partly too because that seemed to be where Stiles was naturally gravitating and- .. well... Derek _may_ have followed him around on instinct a little bit...

But now he was finding himself in need of that other half of the store and all he could hope for was that Stiles had what he needed from it

He took a breath as he walked in, passing by a barking skeleton dog as he made his way towards the counter, thankfull that that was where Stiles was stationed and he wouldn't have to go looking for the witch

"Hey," he greeted a little awkwardly, eyebrows raising as Stiles' head jerked up with a beaming grin

"Hey Derek! Couldn't get enough of the best day of the year?"

"Um... not... exactly, I need some lemon grass spray, for bug repellent, do you have any?"

"I do actually, c'mon, I'll show you where the other half of the store starts," he offered, heading out from behind the counter and making his way towards one of the employees a few feet away

"Liam, take over the register, you shouldn't have too much trouble,"

It was a Tuesday afternoon in early September, Stiles had a feeling the store wasn't exactly going to start swarming within the next few minutes, leaving the register with Liam shouldn't be that much of a problem

"So, what kinda bug problem are we talking about? Are we going to need to call in reinforcements? Did the bakery become a temporary home to a massive infestation?"

"Oh nothing like that, we're delivering a cake to a wedding in Grey Oak park,"

"Oh hell... that place is CRAWLING with bugs, you're going to be a mosquito buffet,"

"Yeah, thus the repellent," Derek teased, eyebrows raising as Stiles stopped suddenly in the very back of the store, right in front of an oddly empty wall

This place was packed to the brim with Halloween goods, from decor to costumes and everything in between, it seemed too odd to have an entire back wall that was just... empty

Though, he supposed, that would make the perfect place for a secret door, and surely enough, a moment later, Stiles reached out and gently pressed against the wall, sliding it open easily and leading Derek inside

The second the door was shut, the lights came on, and what Derek saw was something that he _swore_ could have only come out of the Harry Potter world

Shelves lined with jars and bottles and all sorts of containers, books and cases and displays of all sorts

There were objects floating around back and forth, pages turning in some books in the back, little plumes of smoke rising off of incense and candles, it was a magic shop in every sense of the term

"Now let's see... every day herbs are back here, lemongrass is to the left..."

He wanted to say that he was paying attention to Stiles, but honestly, he was too busy absorbing everything around him

There were just so many things to take in, so many sights, so many scents, it was a little overwelming...

"Do people wanting to access this part of the store always have to come in through the front? What if you're busy and someone sees you opening the wall?" he asked curiously

"There's actually an entrance directly to the back, but you have to know about the place to find it, when someone comes in a bell rings over the door and alerts one of us on our beepers- see?" Stiles explained, unhooking a small beeper from his belt to show to the werewolf

"That's... quite a set up," he mused slowly

"Thanks," Stiles smiled proudly, grabbing a small bottle on the edge of one of the shelves and handing it to the werewolf with a slight smirk

"Lemongrass spray," he said simply, rocking back on his heels

"Thanks,"

"'Course, there's a register back here if you don't want to bother going back through the front, plus you can look at some other stuff if.. if you want to,"

Derek wanted to- he really, REALLY wanted to, but...

"As tempting as that is- and believe me, it's very tempting- there's a cake waiting in a moderately refridgerated truck outside that's going to be late for a wedding,"

"It's fine, I get it," Stiles replied with a nod, he couldn't say that he didn't wish Derek could just spend all day in the store, but he did understand why he had to leave, so he gave a slight smile, wanting the wolf to know that he wasn't holding anything against him

"But I'll be happy to come back soon, maybe tommorrow? I'd really love for you to give me a tour around this place,"

Stiles' eyes lit up, excitement bubbling up in his chest

"Sounds great, but uh... for now, I guess we should get this taken care of huh?" he asked, leading Derek towards the register in the back of the room

"Have I told you yet about the sale we've got going on herbs?"

 

~+~

 

"Lydia is going to kill you, you know that right? Like.... atleast,"

"She's not going to kill me because she's not going to find out, I paid the twenty-five percent off I gave to Derek out of my own pocket so she's not going to find out,"

"Dude... didn't you have to BEG Lydia to help you with your finances in the first place?"

Stiles scoffed, frustrating clear on his face as he hooked another packaged costume onto the rack in front of him

"No, Scott, I did not BEG Lydia, begging would have been a KINDNESS in comparison to the humiliation I had to go through to convince her to help,"

"Then aren't you kind of doing yourself a disservice by going behind her back with things?" Scott frowned back, handing his freind another costume to hang up

"Ok, do I need to remind you about all of the humiliating things YOU had to do back when you were trying to get Allison? None of wich I've told either of them about, by the way, you're welcome,"

"Yeah but... dropping a pen and you pretending to hurt your ankle so I can carry you to the nurse's office isn't really the same as this..." Scott replied slowly

"Helping you break into an aquarium in the middle of the night might be closer to what you're looking for," Stiles challenged- clearly unamused

Scott frowned tensely, wrinkling his nose, but he didn't get the chance to say anything about it, considering the sudden sound of panic coming from behind him

"Stiles! Stiles uh... you might want to see this,"

Both the witch and the werewolf turned around, but only Stiles addressed the other situation

"What's the matter Mason? Another bug problem?"

The building had been infested TWICE with ants since Stiles bought the place and the exterminator SWORE last time that that would be the end of it, but Stiles wasn't convinced

The last people who owned the store had been using it as a specialty foods store and Stiles had a feeling the bugs somehow remembered his shop as the place where they used to be able to find imported candy....

"No, no... just, I found this on the floor," Mason replied hurriedly, holding out a plain leather wallet towards the witch

"Stiles.... who's wallet is that?"

Scott had a feeling that he didn't need to ask that question, the wince on Stiles' face answered it for him

"Derek must have dropped it when I was showing him the display of werewolf cookies by the counter..."

Wich he had bought way more of than Stiles thought was reasonable- and faster than he could come up with a way to discount, as a matter of fact

"Crap," he muttered with a quiet sigh

"It's no big deal, you can just run across the street to the bakery and give it back to him," Scott shrugged back

"No... no I can't, he's not at the bakery, he left to go deliver a cake to a wedding..."

"Well... how long ago was he here?"

"About fourty-five minutes,"

Atleast, he thought it was around that long

Scott came over on his lunch break from work to help him out and that had been around twenty-five minutes ago, Derek had left around twenty minutes before Scott came in so...

"Then you should still have time to catch him at the wedding, he might need his wallet sooner than later,"

"You sure that wouldn't be a little... you know... invasive?"

"You're returning his wallet, trust me, there's no such thing as _invasive_ ," Mason promised

Stiles nodded, anxiously taking the wallet and stepping closer

"Ok... ok, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna take it to him, um... Mason, you're in charge until I get back, and Scott, if I don't get back before you have to leave, _you know what_ stays between us,"

"I know I know, just get going already," Scott smirked teasingly, waving him off

Stiles waved back, grinning as he rushed out of the store

This was good, this was going to be good, he could do this ok?

He was just going to get the wallet to Derek and it was not at ALL a big deal that this just so happened to be the first time they were going to see eachother in anything outside of a strictly work situation

And yeah Derek would probably be in a hurry again so Stiles couldn't exactly call what they were about to do a date

More like... like a not-date

Yeah... yeah a not-date, that was it!

So they were just going to have a not-date, no big deal

(Except that Stiles was practically having a heart attack the entire way there so maybe it could possibly be a teeny tiny bit of a big deal)

 

~+~

 

The drive to the woods went by in something of a blur, excitement and anxiety mixing into one toxic cocktail of not paying attention, but now that he was here...

Well, now that he was here he was kind of ... frozen....

How the hell did he go about this?

How the hell did he even find Derek to begin with?

He supposed the only thing he could do would be to just... wander through the woods until he atleast, inevitably, stumbled upon the wedding and could ask someone if the baker had stopped by yet....

He inhaled, finally shaking himself out of it and opening the door, slipping out of his jeep and taking a few steps forward, looking around at the other cars and perking with delight upon seeing a large van with a cake and the **King Of Hale** logo on the side

That meant that Derek was still there- thank God

He inhaled deeply, starting off towards the entrance of the woods and hoping that it wouldn't take too much time before he came across human life

(Or werewolf life, wich was, you know, the actual point)

He was a few yards into the woods when he spotted a very familiar face coming towards him

He lit up, getting ready to call out to him, only to feel his emotions deflate as he watched the blonde woman next to Derek lean up and give him a kiss on the cheek

And Derek... didn't pull away

He just snorted and wrapped an arm around her shoulders

...

_Oh_

...

He swallowed, hurrying as fast as he could to get back to the cars and seek out the van

He hurried to use his magic to unlock the door, tossed the wallet into the driver's seat, and shut and locked the door again before racing to his jeep and sliding in

His hands were shaking and his throat was tight, upset and angry at himself as he hurried to peel out of the parking section and rush back to the store

How could he be stupid enough to ever think that Derek was single?

 

~+~

 

"Erica how many times have I told you to stop kissing me with that awfull lipstick on?"

"Relax! It won't rub off on you, this is the non-smear stuff," Erica shrugged back, ignoring the way Derek rolled his eyes at her

"Still..." he muttered, eyebrows raising suddenly when he caught a scent on the van- a scent that didn't belong to either of them

He hurried towards it, unlocking the car and jerking the door open, eyebrows raised in shock as he very slowly reached out and picked up his wallet

"Derek? What is it?"

"My wallet.... someone returned it," he frowned, eyebrows pinching together as he started sifting through it to make sure nothing was missing

"Seriously? They broke into the van to _return_ the wallet you lost? Is anything missing?"

"No... it's all here..." he mumbled

Erica tilted her head, coming up behind him and leaning against the door of the van

"Do you recognize the scent?"

"Just Stiles'... and that makes sense considering I left it at his shop to begin with,"

"What about the van?"

Derek frowned a little more, leaning in to sniff at the door, a confused and concerned look crossing over his face

"It's... Stiles again..."

"Has Stiles ever been around the van?"

Derek shook his head, climbing into the driver's seat and staring down pensively at his wallet

"No... no he hasn't,"

 

~+~

 

"How could I not have seen this coming!?"

"Stiles... have you considered that MAYBE you're overreacting?" Scott frowned

"I am NOT overreacting Scott, she kissed his cheek! He put his arm around her! She's gorgeous! God I'm so stupid... how WOULDN'T he be with someone? Hell given my luck he's probably straight!"

"Don't talk like that, you don't know that for sure," Scott insisted gently

"Yeah, well, I'm sure of one thing, I'm never falling for a straight guy again- HUGE mistake," Stiles hissed, glaring pointedly at Scott, who ducked his head shyly and refused to make eye contact

"I'm screwed Scotty... I'm done for," Stiles said with a dramatic sigh

Scott frowned sympathetically, forgetting his own embarrassment long enough to lean over and pat his freind on the back

He hated to see Stiles so upset, and to think when he had left earlier he had been in such high spirits...

Things seemed to be going well the last time he had seen Stiles, but now it was like the world had ended

And to think, Scott had only been gone for a few hours before work was over for the day and he came back to the store to help out his freind for the short remainder of the night....

"You're not screwed or done for, you're just making assumptions,"

"And you ASSUMED Allison was going to get with Jackson because of the way she jealously watched him and Lydia that summer at the beach but it was actually Lydia she was after," he pointed out with a huff

"And SEE? I was wrong,"

Stiles snorted, rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself

"Stiles, there has to be some way you can tell for sure if Derek is single... and not straight, I mean... you could ask him?"

"Are you crazy!? You can't just ASK somebody stuff like that! You have to be descreipt! You have to sniff it out! What I NEED is somebody with hella good gay-dar,"

At that exact moment, there was the sound of something being set down on the counter and Stiles jerked his head up, staring at the unimpressed look on the man's face in front of him

"Danny! How's my favorite necromancer?" he perked happily

"Whatever you want Stiles, I'm not doing it," the other man said plainly, pushing the jar of graveyard dirt forward a little more to catch the other's attention

"I'll pay you,"

"I don't need your money,"

"In favors,"

That, atleast, caused the necromancer to quirk an eyebrow up

"I need you to find out if this guy I know is dating someone- and if he's straight,"

"Isn't this a little beneath you?"

Stiles opened his mouth to answer, but Danny just continued

"Nevermind, I forgot who I was talking to,"

"Come on Danny, Stiles is really upset," Scott pouted

The other man sighed loudly, rolling his eyes as Stiles rang up the jar of dirt

"Fine, but you owe me big time for this, what's the guy's name?"

"Derek Hale, and I'm well aware, I know your price," Stiles snorted, shoving the jar into a papper bag

"Wait... _Derek Hale_? Are you kidding?"

That... confused Stiles, causing the witch to tilt his head

"No? Why?"

Danny snorted, shaking his head and putting the money on the counter before snatching the bag from Stiles

_"Idiot,"_

Stiles wasn't sure what the hell that meant, but he wasn't happy about it

 

~+~

 

"Are you stupid?"

Stiles glanced up, eyebrows raised in confusion at the sudden insult

"Wow, hello to you too Lydia,"

"No, really, is there something wrong with your brain?" the red-head frowned

The witch leaned back in his chair, staring in frustration up at the woman leaning over the counter

"Ok, what did I do now?"

"You sent Danny to find out if Derek is straight, are you _serious_?"

Stiles wrinkled his nose, pursing his lips together

So she found out about that huh?

"So you found out about that huh?"

"I honestly don't know what the worst part is- sending someone to snoop in your crush's personal life to find out his sexual preferences, or the fact that you actually thought that Derek Hale was straight,"

"Ok well... first of all, I was not JUST sending him to snoop out Derek's sexuality, ok? I was also sending him to snoop out his relationship status-"

"Thus _sexual preferences_ ,"

"-ANYWAY, what do you _mean_ 'how could I think Derek Hale was straight'?! He was kissed by a beautifull girl today and they seemed awfully freindly!"

"Kissed where?"

Stiles looked down, chewing his lip

"Cheek..."

"Uh-huh," Lydia frowned flatly

"So what, you're saying Derek is single? And not straight?" Stiles asked innocently- hopefully, at that

"You know Stiles, I think this would be one of those _learning experiences_ where it'd be better for me to _show_ you rather than _tell_ you,"

Stiles pursed his lips, staring anxiously towards Scott- who was still there trying to help out with the organizing, bless him- and groaned

"Tell Mason he's in charge..."

 

~+~

 

"Wait why are we going in? Look, you proved your point, I did a bad thing, there's no need for public shaming,"

"It isn't public shaming Stiles, I just want to introduce you to some people," Lydia smirked back- and Lydia smirking was usually not a good thing

He had no idea what- or who- was waiting for him on the other side of that door, but he couldn't help wincing as Lydia tapped on the door in front of them, gearing himself up for whatever the hell was on the other side

The door swung open, revealing a young woman with long dark hair, dark eyes, and a wolfish smirk on her face

"You didn't tell us you were bringing a guest tonight,"

"He's not really a guest, I just wanted him to meet the group," Lydia shrugged back, smirking a little more and giving Stiles a gentle nudge inside

What he saw was... unexpected at best

A table full of beautifull women, with Derek standing off to the side holding a tray of brownies and wearing a Hufflepuff apron

"Stiles, let me introduce you, the lovely lady that just opened the door for us is Laura, Derek's sister,"

Well, that explained alot

"The brunette at the head of the table next to Derek is his other sister Cora, then next to her is their cousin Malia, you know Kira- Derek's assistant baker-, and you know my fiance' Allison, then there's Braeden- who works with Allison on the police force, they're partners- she also happens to be Laura's wife, and finally Erica, Laura's first beta, oh... and that lovely little lady there is Willow, Derek's dog,"

Willow, evidently, was a Yorkie who couldn't be bigger than eight pounds- and somehow that was actually fitting

Stiles' eyes were as wide as saucers as Lydia leaned over to wisper into his ear

"Now.... who did you see kissing Derek's cheek?"

Stiles pursed his lips, looking down shamefully for a moment before glancing back up at the room full of people

"Um... so this was nice, but I've gotta-"

"Why don't you stay?" Laura suggested suddenly

"We're playing poker, if you want you can join in, I always like taking money from fresh meat,"

"I'm... not actually that much of a gambler-"

"Then you can help Derek in the kitchen, I'm sure he'll appreciate the company,"

Stiles tilted his head, attention turning back towards Derek as the wolf ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck

"Well... as much as I want to- and I do, sincerely want to- I kinda left Scott at the store and one of my employees in charge and we close in two hours so..."

"Oh they won't miss you for a few minutes! How about you just stay for half an hour? That'll give you more than enough time to get back to your store before closing,"

Well... she had a point...

And how could he possibly say no to Derek Hale in a Hufflepuff apron?

"I... sure, I guess," he nodded, smiling awkwardly at Laura as he made his way towards her brother, who seemed pretty quick to jerk Stiles into the kitchen

"So... brownies huh?"

"Everyone has to pay a cover charge of ten bucks to participate in the game and Laura lets me keep the cash if I make them food," he shrugged back simply

"Wow, I don't know if I'm jealous of you or pity you, like... do I want to call someone to liberate you or ask if I can get cut in for twenty percent?"

"No liberation needed," Derek teased as he walked over to the counter where a small array of ingredients were already sitting

"I like doing this, I used to play poker with them but I could never win so I would always quit early and make food instead, after a few weeks Laura started making everyone pay me, since I was essentially working, so... I get to spend time with my family and test new recipes on willing guinia pigs, and I make eighty bucks wile I'm at it- more if someone brings a freind- so it's a good Saturday night,"

Stiles could understand that, he supposed

If it was his pack playing poker wile he bounced ideas for Halloween decorations off of them _and they paid him for it_ , he'd probably be pretty happy with it too

"As long as you're happy, what're we making big guy?"

"Finger sandwiches and mini salads, want to help?"

"Sure, ofcourse this would usually be the part where I ask if we're using actual fingers," Stiles teased back, grabbing a grape off of the counter and popping it in his mouth

He wasn't sure if Derek had already washed them or not but eh, a little dirt wouldn't kill him

"Sadly not, I work better with pastry dough than human limbs," Derek teased back, grabbing a cutting board from the cabinet

"Not a student of Hannibal's huh?" Stiles smirked

"Nope, but I could show you to make really realistic looking Hannibal-esque food if you want, for Halloween... or for terrorizing the community, wichever,"

Stiles paused, another grape in hand, and stared at him in amazement

"Wait... are you serious?"

"As a heart attack, I have the Hannibal cookbook, I can even make vegetarian dishes that look like they belong on his table,"

Stiles' eyes lit up with excitement, grinning from ear to ear

" _Dude!_ That's the best thing ever! Man no more making carrot sticks to look like fingers for me!"

"Well don't get _too_ excited, I don't have _that_ many tricks,"

"Yeah but still... it's awesome, you, my freind, are going to HAVE to come over on Halloween and help me make food, I mean... unless you have plans, ofcourse,"

He hadn't really intended to invite Derek over for Halloween- a guy he barely knew, on a standing date over a month away- but it was sort of out in the ether now and he couldn't take it back

"I don't have any plans, I mean... besides just handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters, my family used to do _huge_ things for Halloween but ... it's harder to have big celebrations in an apartment, and Laura and Braeden have their 'first date anniversary' on Halloween anyway so... when the house gets rebuilt, we'll start doing real celebrations again, sort of... like we used to,"

Rebuild their house...?

It sort of hit him all at once, all of a sudden, who Derek actually was

"Oh my God.... _Derek **Hale**_...."

He remembered the Hales, they used to live in the preserve around a little less than a decade ago, their house burned down one night, killing everyone inside, the only surviving family members were Derek and his sisters, who were at a highschool basketball game at the time

They had left Beacon Hills right after that, he hadn't realized they'd come back....

"Yeah," Derek mumbled quietly, grabbing a small stack of bread from the bag in front of him and setting them aside

Maybe Stiles shouldn't have said that, the vibe around Derek had quickly gone from softly cheerfull to pained and Stiles... Stiles knew that feeling

"When did you get back to town? I would've thought I'd heard about it, especially with you guys being wolves, I mean.... why didn't you ever come talk to Scott?" he asked curiously, holding up a cucumber

"Want this peeled?"

"Please," Derek nodded, grabbing a mixing bowl and opening the jars of peanut butter and jelly

(Stiles hoped that the cucumber wouldn't be for whatever he was doing with that...)

"I don't know what you're talking about though, we _did_ talk to Scott, or atleast Laura did,"

Stiles frowned, stepping over to the sink with the vegetable peeler and starting to run it across the skin of the cucumber

"What are you talking about? Scott's never met you guys, he would have told me if he had,"

"Well not to be the bearer of bad news but apparently he didn't, Laura met with him about four years ago when we came back, I remember it vividly, we all went to meet with him in the preserve and talked about territory and stuff, we pretty much decided that, since we were going to be on opposite sides of town anyway, we'd just keep our own territories and if we met in the middle we'd more or less keep to ourselves, if something happened to the town we'd work together, that was all,"

There was a long stretch of silence as Stiles rolled that over in his head, mostly in confusion, but irritation was certainly sinking in there as well

And then, as if turning a dial, it finally clicked

"That crack-munch!!!"

Derek tilted his head, kind of almost pouting as he stared at the witch

"What-"

"Sorry Derek, really, sorry, but I have to go, I'll see you soon ok? Tommorrow? I'll stop by the bakery,"

Sadly, Derek didn't even get the chance to protest before Stiles was rushing out of the apartment and back outside to the jeep, leaving the werewolf alone in the kitchen

 

~+~

 

"Look, I should've told you and I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it now,"

Stiles' eye twitched, his fingers curling, not sure if he was more annoyed or just.... somewhat confused at how Scott could think that _that was it_

"Dude, I'm your second-in-command! I'm your advisor! I should KNOW these things! What the hell were you thinking?! You didn't think it was worth telling me after FOUR. YEARS. that there's another pack in town!? The _Hale_ pack at that!?"

"I just... didn't think it was that big of a deal... and I was about to start college so I had alot on my mind..."

"I could have taken this OFF of your mind," Stiles argued with a frown

Scott hung his head, clearly starting to feel guilty about the past indiscretion

"Yeah... I know that now, but .. I was still kind of-"

"Stubborn?"

"- Not... the word I was going to use but yeah... stubborn... back then.... sorry,"

Stiles sighed quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose

It wasn't the _best_ apology but as far as Scott went it was pretty good

"Alright.... you're forgiven, but only if you help me decorate for Halloween,"

Scott made a face as if he were in physical pain, but Stiles didn't care, this was _pennance_

He was Scott's first "beta", his right-hand-man, and Scott had just done all of this behind his back!

He had to learn his lesson somehow

"How is it that you always manage to find something to punish me for _every year_ right before October?"

Stiles shrugged, locking up the register and smirking

"We may never know,"

 

~+~

 

Over the next few weeks Stiles found, with surprise, that he and Derek actually saw eachother.... _alot_

Derek came by the store probably once a week and Stiles was at the bakery pretty much every day, he always made up some excuse or other, and they found themselves to be cultivating a blossoming freindship

And that was great!

Honestly, that was really.... really.... _great_

There was nothing wrong with freindships, ofcourse, in fact Stiles was _lucky_ to have Derek as a freind- the dude was _way_ out of his league even on a freindship level

But he was selfish and... well, he wanted more

Not that he would ever tell Derek that, ofcourse, as far as the wolf knew they were freinds and nothing more and there were no (likely) unrequited feelings involved

And if he spent a _little_ more time than explicitly necessary with Derek, well...

That would just be his little secret

"Let me guess, a slice of jumbo cheesecake?" Derek smirked

"How did you guess?"

"Well, it IS Saturday," the wolf chuckled, opening the glass case in front of him to pull out the pre-sliced cheesecake

Stiles frowned, nose wrinkling a little

"Have I really gotten THAT predictable?"

"Mm, I wouldn't say 'predictable', but I know my customers quite well,"

"I'll say," Stiles snorted, licking his lips as he watched Derek slide his cake spatula under one of the slices and plop it into the awaiting box

Stiles was always touch-and-go about cheesecake, it was either mind-meltingly good or... just kinda eh... depending on who had made it

And Derek's cheesecake?

Derek's cheesecake challenged all other cheesecakes that he had ever known or loved and blew "mind-melting" WAY out of the water

"Have you eaten today?" Derek asked teasingly

Well, it was mostly teasing anyway, but he was actually somewhat serious

He had noticed that Stiles didn't always take care of himself, he often skipped meals- either intentionally or not- and almost always complained about not getting enough sleep- if any

So even though he had been mostly teasing, there was an underlying sense of concern there as well

"Yeah, I have,"

Somehow, Derek didn't believe that

This was one of those times when he didn't need to be a werewolf to be able to tell when someone was lying to him

"And what did you eat?"

"What are you? My dad?" Stiles snorted back, reaching out for the cheesecake

But Derek wasn't giving it to him

The witch narrowed his eyes, wrinkling his nose

"Fine, I had a granola bar, do you have a point?"

"My point is that you're staring at this cheesecake like it's a gift from God and I would advise you to eat something that _isn't_ primarily sugar and dairy, like, you know, _lunch_?"

"Ok, first of all, your cheesecake IS a gift from God, alright? Everything in this bakery is straight from Heaven and you'll never convince me of otherwise, and second of all, I have alot to do today so I don't have _time_ for lunch, I **do** , however, have plenty of time for cheesecake,"

"What kind of logic is that?" Derek frowned

"The logic that the closest eating establishment to my store is this bakery and the next closest is always crowded around this time, twenty minutes here versus an hour there, and that doesn't count eating time,"

"What makes you so busy today anyhow?" Derek asked with a slight frown

Not that he didn't understand, ofcourse, owning your own business was extremely difficult and taxing and required pretty much all of your attention at all times, Stiles would likely be busy at any given time, but he seemed to be implying that he was busier than usual tonight

"It's the last day of September, meaning tommorrow is the first day of October and I have TONS to do, we're gonna have a sale tommorrow, and people should start coming in alot more frequently now, plus the first of October is always Halloween decorating day,"

Huh, Derek didn't know that....

He thought that people just tended to put up decorations whenever, but apparently it was one of those "Never wear white after Labor Day" things where it was a general "rule" of social customs that was usually completely ignored

Sure his family had always decorated on October first, but he had just sort of thought that was their tradition, not that it was one of those "rules"

"SO, like I said, tons to do, and as much as I REALLY would love to stay and talk- because you know I would- honestly, sincerely, I would- I've really gotta go, so," he snapped his fingers, the cake box sliding away from Derek and popping into his hands

"Cash is on the counter, see you!" he called, rushing out of the bakery

Derek blinked, eyebrows raised as he watched the door slowly fall shut behind the witch

"Hey Kira!" he called, taking his apron off and hanging it over his arm

 _"Yeah?"_ Kira shouted from the back

"Come take over the front for me, I have to do something,"

 

~+~

 

"Hey Derek, what kind of creepy crawlie can we do for you today?" Liam greeted as he handed a bag of goods to a customer

"Um, nothing today,"

Nothing he was planning atleast, but given Stiles' nack for selling things....

"I actually brought something for Stiles, is he around?" he asked, moving out of the way as the aforementioned customer headed out

"Oh! Yeah, he's in the back showing some herbs to a customer, want me to call for him?"

"That'd be great, thanks," Derek said with a slight nod

Stiles wasn't kidding about things getting busier, it wasn't actually October first yet but Hocus Pocus was already busier than it usually was at this time of day

Sure it was a Saturday but... he didn't recall last Saturday being like this...

He looked around as Liam called Stiles over the walkie talkie, deciding there was nothing better to do, he might as well trinket-shop

There were dozens of little things lining the racks behind him, buckets of little light-up pens and keychains that made noises

Screeching cat mini lights, bouncey balls decorated like eyeballs, light-up ghost pens, witches that cackled and popped their eyes out when squeezed, tiny monster tins of candy, plastic spider rings, even a little tiny matchbox Ghost Busters van- and that wasn't even scratching the surface

His eye happened to catch on a little resin pen with a zombie baby atop it and... well...

It was cute and sure $4 wasn't exactly going to pay Stiles' bills but ... maybe he could give these out at next week's poker game or save them for stalking stuffers around Christmas time or something...

So he grabbed some- fifteen or sixteen, you know, whatever was in the bucket- and set them on the counter, trying to avoid the look of judgement on Liam's face

"Stiles should be out in a minute," he said slowly, starting to ring up the pens

Derek just nodded silently, because even he knew he should be ashamed of this, but that didn't mean he had any control or desire to stop himself

"So uh... you like zombie babies huh?"

"Stocking stuffers,"

"... Doing Christmas shopping early, that's cool,"

Derek nodded, shifting the bag he was carrying to his other hand as he reached for his wallet

"Soooo... only guy in an all female pack huh? That's gotta be.... weird...."

Derek paused, tilting his head in confusion

"What?"

And Liam, for what it was worth, looked like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar after explicitly being told that he wasn't allowed to have cookies- ever

"Ummm...."

"Hey Derek! Not that I mind but didn't we just see eachother?" Stiles asked with a slight smirk as he made his way towards the counter, raising his eyebrows upon taking in the sight of the pile of pens

"I didn't know you wrote so much..."

"Stocking stuffers," Derek frowned, clearing his throat and putting some cash on the counter- he wasn't sure what the total was but it couldn't be anything a few twenties couldn't cover right?

"I um... brought you lunch, since you said you were busy," he said, holding the bag out towards the witch

Stiles' mouth fell open, eyes wide and eyebrows raised as he very carefully took the bag from him

"Derek you.. you really didn't have to do any o-"

"You think I belong to an all-female pack?"

If looks could kill, Stiles would have been arrested for Liam's brutal murder immediately

"I NEVER said that," he growled lowly, glaring pointedly at the younger wolf before turning his attention back towards Derek, a much more anxious and soft look on his face

"I just happened to mention a few weeks ago that you spent Saturday nights playing poker with _a pack of girls_ , not an _all girl **pack**_ , he misunderstood,"

Stiles sounded honest- nervous, but honest- and even though Derek was still inclined to feel a little .. off.. about all of it, he knew that whatever had happened, Stiles hadn't meant anything by it, so he let it go, because he _liked_ Stiles and Derek didn't meet people that he really liked all that often

(Not on his own, atleast)

"Just find a place where you can eat, I brought you a sandwich and some stuff so..."

Attention now drawn back to the bag, Stiles' face lit up excitedly and he started sifting through the bag, grinning from ear to ear

"Oh my God, dude, you brought me food from _Alejandra's_? That's the best delli in the city!"

"It's not that far from here or anything," Derek shrugged back simply, looking down and starting to turn pink

"That isn't even the point though, just... oh my God you're so awesome!"

"I'm really not, just concerned for your safety," Derek shrugged back

Stiles snorted, rolling his eyes as they started walking towards his office, he could finish doing the books wile he ate, easy enough he supposed

"Wow, there are a bunch of pickles in here," he mused with surprise, his hand was rustling around in the bag for his sandwich but he just kept pulling up giant delli pickles in pouches...

"Oh, those are for Laura- I mean, one is for you, but... Laura just really likes those big delli pickles for some reason that I can't understand,"

"Well aren't you the bestest brother ever?" Stiles smirked, plopping down in his desk chair and finally emerging victorious with his sandwich, pulling out one of the pickles and a bag of chips as well

"You spoil me," he beamed

"No, I'm feeding you because you won't feed yourself," Derek corrected

Stiles snorted teasingly, handing him back the bag of pickles and unwrapping the sandwich, eyebrows raised in amazement and confusion as he stared down at it, fiddling with the bread

"What's wrong?" Derek asked a bit anxiously

"Nothing, it's... perfect, wich is why I'm confused, this is _literally_ my exact sandwich order, how did you-"

"I talked to Lydia, don't worry, I'm not a mind-reader, I don't do anything weird like sniff you whenever you come out of the delli or anything,"

"Suuuuuuure," Stiles grinned teasingly

But he had to admit, it was _beyond_ incredibly sweet that Derek had gone through so much trouble for him- and for virtually no reason at that

"I just want my favorite customer to live a little longer so he'll keep being a _daily regular_ , you know you're the only one who comes in every day except for my sister-in-law right?"

"What can I say? You make a good pastry Hale," Stiles smirked, biting into his sandwich and groaning lowly, eyes rolling and practically shivering in delight at the food

"Well I'm happy to hear that," Derek said with a slight laugh, biting his lip and taking a step towards the door

"I really have to get going now, unfortunately, but... I'll see you soon?"

Stiles nodded, giving him an encouraging thumbs' up

"Soon!" he promised back, groaning as he bit into his sandwich again

Derek chuckled softly, a shy smile on his face as he headed up to the counter, collecting his change... and bag of zombie baby pens

 

~+~

 

"So your plan is basically to make him dependent on you for food and then gradually start changing out potato chips and twenty pound sandwiches to carrot sticks and a light, healthy sandwich, so that by the time he notices what you've done he'll have become too dependent on you to fight back? Really? THIS? THIS is your plan?"

"You make it sound so manipulative and cruel when you put it that way," Derek frowned, setting the bag of pickles on the kitchen counter

"I'm not trying to con Stiles into eating healthy, or make him _dependent_ on me for anything, I just said I was going to start taking him food every day to make sure he eats _something_ and that hopefully one day I'll be able to switch out some of the cholestoral clogging **crap** he puts in his mouth to something that _won't_ eventually kill him,"

"And now you're just sugar-coating the same thing I said," Laura smirked teasingly as she started going through the bag

"No, what YOU said involved psychological manipulation and force, what **I** said involved good luck and bribery,"

"Keep telling yourself that, but I'm just saying, it'll be easier for you to control his diet if you just start dating him,"

Derek heaved a sigh, shoulders sagging as he leaned against the counter

"Laura...."

"You know I'd never make you do anything you don't want to do little brother, but I'm just saying, it could benefit both your emotional _and_ your financial health to just pull the plug and ask him out," she noted, staring pointedly at the bag by Derek's feet with the Hocus Pocus logo on it

Derek, noticing, carefully skirted the bag off to the side and out of her direct line of sight

"I don't even want to know what's in there,"

"I finally had someone on the register besides Stiles so I could pay full price, I just... wanted to pick up a few _little_ things, he's going to run himself into the ground if he keeps discounting everything everytime anyone walks into the store,"

"Anytime YOU walk into the store, let's be clear about that, he doesn't do that for anyone else,"

Derek opened his mouth to speak, but Laura interrupted with a ticking of her tongue

"Ohh you two have got it BAD for eachother.... _really_ Derek? Stealing the guy's watch? Don't tell me this is some half-baked, Seinfeld-esque plan to get his attention,"

The beta frowned, tilting his head in confusion at her

"I didn't steal anyone's watch..."

Laura raised her eyebrows, a look of pure judgement on her face as she reached into the bag and pulled out a simple silver wrist watch

(... In the shape of a pumpkin, because ofcourse it was)

"I didn't STEAL it Laura, it must have fallen in the bag when he was fishing around in there,"

"Really?" Laura asked with disbeleif, mostly judging him- _again_

"Yes really! You can hear my heartbeat, you know I'm not lying!" and with that being said he reached out and snatched the watch, staring at it with a quiet, longing sigh

"I'll return it to him tommorrow, he comes by the bakery every day, no harm, no foul,"

"... Ooooor maybe he dropped it in the bag on PURPOSE so he would have an excuse to come over later,"

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes at that but... well... the more he thought about it, the more that actually kind of almost sounded plausible....

A terrifying thought in it's own right

 

~+~

 

Sometimes, Derek realized, the universe was just out to get him

Every day for the last three (ish) weeks, Stiles had come into his bakery between the hours of noon and three o'clock

Now here he was at four o'clock, actually NEEDING to see Stiles, already having picked up lunch for him...

And he was nowhere to be found

Understandably, Derek was a little frustrated

"Kira, could you watch the front for me for a little wile? I've gotta run across the street," Derek noted, taking his apron off and stepping into the back to hang it up

"To see Stiles?" the kitsune chirped

She seemed all too excited about that

"To return his watch," he corrected with a slight frown, grabbing his jacket from the coat hanger and heading over to the fridge to pick up the bag with Stiles' lunch in it

"Ok," she chuckled softly, wiping her hands off on her apron

Derek rolled his eyes, but just as he was about to shut the freezer door, his eyes caught on a jumbo cupcake that they were keeping there

They had made extras that morning and wile everyone at the bakery had had their's, there was one left....

It was double chocolate

Stiles loved double chocolate

....

He grabbed a box and a peice of tissue papper and was just glad that Malia and Erica were too busy decorating a cake to notice

 

~+~

 

"Hey Derek, if you're back for more pens you cleaned us out yesterday, but Stiles ordered more! He thinks they're a best seller, I protected your reputation and made sure not to tell him you bought them all,"

Liam looked so proud of himself that despite how much Derek wanted to bark at him he just... couldn't do it

"... Thanks Liam, where's Stiles? I have something for him,"

"Oh he isn't here today,"

What

"What?"

"It's October first, decoration day at the Stilinski house,"

Oh... so THAT was what he'd meant by "October first is always Halloween decorating day"....

Well hell

"But... I have his watch, he's probabl-"

"Oh!! He's been looking for that since last night! He practically turned the store upside down for it,"

Now Derek went from feeling bad to feeling worse

Sure he hadn't found the watch until long after Stiles had closed the store, but knowing that he had kept it from him all day and most of last night still made him feel pretty guilty

"I'm sure he'll want it back as soon as possible," Derek said with a small sigh, reaching into his pocket for the watch

If he couldn't give it to Stiles, well, Liam could....

"Why don't you just take it by his house? I mean, you're on your lunch break right? He doesn't live all that far from here,"

... Sure, lunch break, he could go with that

"Wouldn't Stiles be pretty uncomfortable with you giving me his address?"

"Not really, you're pretty much freinds, he'll just be relieved to have the watch back,"

Well.... he supposed it would be ok...

Stiles had been to his apartment a few weeks ago, it was only fair that Derek visit Stiles' house, right?

 

~+~

 

Pulling up to the Stilinski house, Derek hadn't been entirely sure what to expect

But it wasn't this

The house was already dressed to the nines but clearly only half-done, given the boxes and props laid out in the middle of the driveway and the half-secured decorations littering the yard, clearly only posed temporarily to get a good overveiw

And when he looked up, he saw three men on ladders stretching cobwebs around a tree

Stiles, Scott, and the sheriff

Scott had already ditched his shirt, the sheriff was down to a plain t-shirt, and Stiles was down to a tank-top, all three were in shorts

They appeared to be struggling

_"I swear to GOD Stiles I am NEVER doing this again!"_

_"You say that every year!"_

_"And every year you buy these freaking cobwebs anyway even after I tell you not to!"_

_"Well I never asked you to help me put them up, you didn't have to!"_

_"I did if I didn't want to be driving your limp corpse to the morgue later today, you have the balance of a one-legged deer! You would've fallen and broken your neck if I wasn't helping,"_

_"Well what about Scott!?"_

_"Scott would've just tumbled down with you,"_

_" **Hey!** "_

_"Well Scotty he's not wrong..."_

Maybe Derek should assist?

Turning the engine off, the werewolf unclipped his seatbelt and got out of the car, grabbing the bag in the seat next to him and heading down the driveway, dodging stray equipment and decorations with every step

Now to actually call him down...

"Oh! Derek's here!" Scott chirped, causing Stiles to spin and stumble on the ladder, a bright grin lighting up his face

"Hey Big Guy!! Miss me that much?" he called down, carefully climbing down from the ladder and rushing towards the wolf

"Son, if you're taking a break, I'M taking a break, I've gotta get some water... and caffiene," the sheriff mused, untangling his hands from the cobwebs and starting to climb down from his own ladder

Scott simply jumped down from his, landing evenly on his feet and jogging up towards the house

"I'm getting water too!" he called over his shoulder

The three of them must have been working for a wile now, the smell of sweat was nearly overpowering and Stiles was so badly drenched that his _hair_ was dripping, and the tank top looked like it had just been pulled out of a river

"I um.. I found your watch last night, it must have come undone and .. it was in the bag when I got home," he said a little awkwardly, fishing into his pocket and pulling out the silver watch

"Oh!! Dude this is amazing! I've been driving myself crazy looking for this thing since last night, I thought it was gone forever!"

"Sorry..."

"No no, don't apologize, I'm just happy you found it!" the witch replied with a grin, hurrying to secure the watch back over his wrist

"I um... brought you food too," Derek added shyly, handing him the bag

Stiles stared up at him, wide-eyed and looking like he was being given some sort of precious gift, Derek didn't really understand why

"That... is so sweet, seriously, you're just the best, do you know that?"

"I'm really not," Derek shrugged back shyly, hanging his head as Stiles took the bag and started to sift through it, groaning at the food inside

"You are, you SO are! Look, you're staying for lunch ok? We are gonna split this sandwich and you are going to stay, it's the absolute LEAST I can do,"

"No no, I brought that for you, you need to eat it, besides, I had lunch so I'm fine,"

Stiles frowned, seeming... pensive and reluctant, but ultimately ended up agreeing

"Alright, but you're ATLEAST sharing the cupcake, and I refuse to let you argue about that one,"

Derek sighed softly, smiling a little and nodding

"Alright, the cupcake I'll share," he relented

"Great! C'mon, we'll go inside and eat, I'll have to come out and finish decorating after though,"

"I could help if you want," Derek offered, he wasn't really sure if it was his place to offer something like that but it had just sort of... slipped out

"Really?" Stiles grinned, excitement practically pouring off of him

"Yeah, the bakery isn't really busy today, I'll just call and let the girls know, I haven't had a day off in ages so it seems like a good time to take one,"

Stiles gave a slight snort, shaking his head and grinning more

"Seriously- _the **best**_ ,"

 

~+~

 

"Are you sure about this?"

"Sure I'm sure, we do it every year!" Stiles cheered as he climbed up to the very top of the ladder

"Though in all fairness we keep adding to it so it gets _bigger_ every year," the sheriff frowned, watching with mild displeasure as Stiles reached down for a ziptie

"Speaking of, about this year..."

"NO," his father said immediately, glaring as he handed a ziptie over to his son

"What!? But Dad-!"

"Stiles, we have way too many of these stupid skeletons as it is, they're nearly on the roof!"

"And the idea, dear father, is in fact to GET them on the roof," Stiles explained, starting to tie the skeleton he was working on to the gutter

"Stiles, we have too many as it is, we're not taking in any more," the sheriff huffed sternly

"Oh come on, just a few more!! What's the point in posing them like they're climbing up the side of the house if you don't eventually get one on the roof?"

"Stiles," his father groaned

"Daddy," Stiles pouted back

"Alright, alright fine, you want another skeleton, fine, but on one condition,"

Stiles perked, seeming to wait with baited breath for him to continue

"I'll let you bring home another one of these _things_.... if you get new shoes within the week,"

Stiles dropped the ziptie he had been holding, if it hadn't been for Derek catching it, it would've landed in the vast expanse of leaves behind them and Derek felt a little twinge of pride that he had prevented that

"Oh... come on Dad!!!"

"Nope, you're about to wear HOLES in them Stiles, enough is enough,"

"Don't do this to me!"

"I'm not doing it TO you, I'm doing it FOR you, get some shoes, and you can bring home another skeleton,"

Stiles looked pensive, irritated, and somewhat close to having a break down

".... Fine, but only if we get the skeleton today,"

"Fine, but you're taking a witness to the shoe store with you and taking a picture there so I know you went,"

Upon hearing that, Scott paused from where he was hammering stakes into ground, a look of sheer panic and horror on his face

"I don't have to do it do I?"

"No... no offense Scott but you're too much of a pushover, last time was proof enough of that,"

"Oh... thanks," Scott said with releif

Derek didn't quite understand what was going on, what was the big deal about buying shoes?

"But if you don't mind could you go by the store and pick up the new addition? We can-"

"I'm there!" Scott shouted, practically racing to the motercycle parked off to the side next to Stiles' jeep, having abandonded his hammering for now

"So.... if not Scott, who-"

"Lydia," the sheriff said immediately

And hell, even Derek felt sorry for Stiles at this point

Lydia was great, but she was... a little... well... when it came to shoes....

Look when it came to shoes Lydia could turn into something of a ruthless commander of evil and it scared Derek a little bit

"Oh Dad.... Dad why do you hate me that much? What have I ever done!?"

"Lydia is the only person who I know for a fact won't let you out of this-"

"ALIVE!"

"-with a lie,"

"Dad she'll kill me! I can't go in there alone with her!"

"Then take him with you," the sheriff shrugged, pointing towards Derek

Derek, who looked up immediately like a deer in the headlights of life, nearly dropping the hammer as he did so

"Dad-"

"You want the skeleton right?"

Stiles deflated, pouting as he slowly climbed down from the ladder and watched his father get up from the ground

"I'm going to get the tarps from the garage, you boys can work this out amongst yourselves,"

There was an uncomfortable silence between them as the sheriff headed back into the garage, until Stiles finally- somewhat reluctantly- spoke

"I'm really sorry that you got caught up in all of this man..."

"It's ok, what's the big deal about a little shoe shopping?" he asked rehetorically, giving a slight shrug

"Oh Derek, sweet, innocent Derek.... you know not of wich you speak," Stiles sighed, folding the ladder and carrying it back towards the yard where it could be put to better use

"I don't understand," Derek frowned in confusion

"Yeah I'm aware of that.... listen, shoe shopping with me is a nightmare that no one- and I mean NO ONE- deserves to be put through, I am a NIGHTMARE, ok? Nothing fits me, nothing, ever, it takes me two years to find a pair of shoes and I'm not even joking,"

"Sounds like Cora," Derek shrugged back with disinterest, grabbing another stake to jam into the ground

"No, Derek, you don't understand, I can try on every shoe in the store- nothing will fit!"

"Sounds like Cora," Derek repeated

"Derek I'm serious! It'll be torture! You'll walk out of there feeling like a lifeless corpse!"

"Sounds like Cora,"

Stiles frowned, narrowing his eyes and preparing to argue against him- again- but Derek stood up, a mildly displeased look on his face as he crossed his arms over his face and stared the witch down

"Stiles, you are not going to convince me not to go with you, so just drop it and hand me the last stake,"

And Stiles- for once in his life- actually did as he was asked, a little too alarmed at the moment to comeback with an appropriate comeback

 

~+~

 

Stiles hated missing work in October

This was going to be their busiest month of the year and he was missing time at the store because he was out here doing... _this_

He understood his father's concern- really, he knew that his shoes were about two threads away from becoming a pile of dust, but couldn't he just do this in November when the store would be- arguably- at it's slowest?

To make matters worse, Lydia's patience had gone down from "Hardly any" to "Less than none" in the last hour, as they made their way to the third store in the area, and he was kind of worried that she was going to force him into something that didn't fit just out of spite at this point

But atleast he had Derek

Derek was unusually patient with the entire matter and Stiles could only assume that was due to spending his time with Cora- who apparently had the same problem that he did

"How about these?"

Stiles wrinkled his nose, staring in displeasure at the pair of tennis shoes that Lydia was trying to sell him on

"They're neon yellow....." he frowned

Not that he actually cared about how his shoes looked at this point, he just wanted something to fit so he could leave and go back to the store, but he had to draw the line at neon yellow

"Just see if they fit, then we can look for another color,"

With a frustrated sigh, he grabbed the box and sulked off to where Derek was, flopping down on the bench and reluctantly trying them on

"I think that's the last pair of tennis shoes in the entire store," Derek noted, leaning back against a shelf behind him

"Is that why they're neon yellow?" Stiles grumbled back, though hey, if it got him out of here, he'd wear neon PINK for all he cared

"Probably," Derek smirked back teasingly, glancing up as Lydia stepped around the corner, irritation clear on her face

"Alright Stilinski, that's officially the LAST pair of tennis shoes in the store that you could even POSSIBLY fit in, make it work,"

"Wow, you called it," Stiles muttered in amazement, a frustrated huff leaving his lungs as he kicked the shoe off and reached for his old shoes

"Nope, too tight,"

The groan that left Lydia's throat sounded inhuman

"We're going to run out of stores in this town... I am not sending you back to your father empty-handed,"

"And I'M not going to buy something that doesn't fit- _again_ ,"

It was a battle of wills, of who could win out against the other- or .. something like that, atleast....

"Look, why don't we take a quick break? Get some coffee or something, we'll go to another store once we've had a minute to breathe," Derek suggested

"I'm with him, there's a coffee shop right nextdoor attached to that Second & Charles,"

Lydia deadpanned, annoyed but not actually angry

"Are you sure that you're actually suggesting coffee and not just angling to buy more nerd stuff?"

"I'm just trying to be helpfull here after Derek made a suggestion of his own free will," Stiles shrugged back

Lydia stared, still looking rather annoyed, before glancing down to check the messages on her phone and heaving another sigh

"Alright, I need to call Allison back, and ... coffee probably wouldn't be the worst thing, _fifteen minutes_ , then we're leaving,"

Fifteen minutes?

Stiles could do alot with fifteen minutes

 

~+~

 

"Nice bookends,"

Derek's lips quirked up into a slight grin, staring down at the set of wolf bookends he had picked up

They had a nice Victorian feel to them, made to look like stone, they were pretty and... well, Derek had needed new bookends anyway

"Thanks, nice Deadpool,"

So Stiles had found some Deadpool slippers and been completely unable to say no- what else was new?

"Thanks," he chuckled back, turning his attention back to the book in front of him

A massive "behind the scenes" sort of thing for Suicide Squad....

To say Stiles was tempted was putting it mildly

But it was so expensive...

Way more expensive than he could have ever reasonably afforded even if he _hadn't_ just opened a new business...

"A fan of Suicide Squad huh?" Derek guessed

"Oh yeah, major," Stiles grinned back, opening the cover of the book and sighing longingly as he flipped through some of the pages

It was a pretty enormous book actually, thick hardback, photograph-papper pages, somewhere around four-hundred pages thick...

He could barely even lift it

"Me too, I don't think it deserved nearly the amount of criticism it got,"

"Yeah, exactly! But you know critics, they never like anything, and fans are always picky, so,"

"No kidding," Derek agreed, glancing over Stiles' shoulder at the book as the witch longingly flipped through it

As nice as it was... there was just no way

"Alright boys, collect your nerd crap, the closest store is twenty minutes away from here and I am NOT going to spend my entire day babysitting,"

Stiles pouted at the sound of Lydia's voice, reluctantly putting the book down and trudging behind her to the counter

Oh well, atleast he had had a quick break, and he had coffee now so that had to be better than nothing...

"Slippers? Really?"

"What's wrong with that?" Stiles pouted, putting his slippers on the counter and grabbing his wallet

"We've spent all day shopping for shoes- _nothing_ fits you, and yet somehow Deadpool slippers will?"

"What can I say? They're made differently, not hard to find a pair that fit," he shrugged, setting his coffee aside as he fished some cash out of his wallet

Lydia rolled her eyes, shaking her head as Derek stepped behind them

"You know, I keep comparing you to Cora, but you two really are alot alike, she has the hardest time imaginable finding shoes that will fit, but slippers she can pick up pretty much anywhere,"

"Right, it doesn't matter how stupidly huge my feet are, slippers are stretchy, they'll most likely fit if you find a size atleast close to your's," Stiles agreed with a nod, slipping his wallet back in his pocket and thanking the clerk at the counter as he collected the bag with the slippers inside it and stepped aside

"Exactly, and for the record, don't feel self-conscious, I think your feet are a perfect size," Derek said with a gentle smile, starting to set the bookends on the counter

"You would, after all, you know what they say about the size of a guy's feet," Lydia mused under her breath, though... it was obviously loud enough for Derek to hear, considering his body jerked and, as he spun around to face her, the enormous Suicide Squad book he had picked up fell right on Stiles' foot

Stiles' scream rivaled that of a banshee

 

~+~

 

"Oh God... oh God... oh God..."

"I know, I know, but we're almost there, just keep breathing.... are you SURE you don't want to go to the hospital?"

Derek was going to take Stiles' indignant squeak as a "Yes"

He sighed quietly, carefully shuffling the key into the lock and hurrying to open the door, stepping inside and kicking the door shut behind them

"C-Couch... couch..." Stiles wimpered desperately, trying to stay still as Derek carried him over to the couch in the living room and very gently set him down, grabbing the blanket off of the back and pulling it over the witch

"Where are the herbs?" he asked, handing Stiles the TV remote

"Um... u-up... upstairs, there's a pannel in the back of my closet... move it and... you'll get to my herb storage..." he mumbled

"And everything is labeled?"

Stiles gave a tiny nod, biting his lip to keep in a wimper of pain as Derek hurried up the stairs

Stiles had written down the herbs that he needed as well as the instructions for making the healing drink that would take care of his (possibly broken?) foot

Stiles absolutely _refused_ to go to a hospital, partly because of the entire witch thing- making medicine an awkward practice at best and a dangerous one at worst- and partly because of his severe phobia of hospitals and all things related to them

So here they were, at his house wile Derek tried his hardest to put together what mostly boiled down to a potion, with Stiles laying on the couch in agony channel surfing

"Ohh... Nightmare Before Christmas..." he mumbled, clinging to his blanket a little bit tighter and jolting at the sudden ***THUD*** coming from upstairs, followed by a short yelp

He didn't know what Derek just did.... but he was kind of afraid to find out...

 

~+~

 

"Are you still doing ok?"

"Yeah... I'm fine," Stiles croaked back, wich was only partly a lie

He was fine in that he hadn't gotten any worse, but he was still probably a hair away from going out of his mind with pain

"What do I do after it boils? I can't read this..." Derek called from the kitchen

Yeaaah... around the end of the instructions Stiles had started shaking and between that and Derek going over those railroad tracks things had gotten a little sloppy

"Add the... oregeno oil... and stir... then... put... put it in a ... a cherry slushie," Stiles groaned, trying to keep his wits about him

God he was in pain....

"A.... cherry slushie?"

"Or grape... whatever...."

Stiles wasn't picky about the flavor- well, except lime, why did they even MAKE lime popsicles?- but cherry and grape were just the first suggestions he had

He knew he was asking for alot, making a slushie out of popsicles wasn't exactly easy, but if Derek had ever tasted herbal remedies he would know exactly how horrendous they were

(And besides, it was kinda mostly his fault that Stiles' foot was- probably- broken anyway, it was also partly Lydia's but kinda mostly Derek's)

(Although it was incredibly sweet that he had been buying him that Suicide Squad book for reasons that Stiles still hadn't quite milked out of him yet)

(And hey, atleast he wouldn't have to go shoe shopping again for like.... atleast a week after this!)

The sound of the blender going made Stiles wrinkle his nose, hating the way the sound grated on his ears, but atleast it was better than having to taste the disgusting mixture that would ultimately- hopefully- heal his foot...

He turned the TV up a little bit louder, biting down on his lip as he tried to keep his attention away from the sound of the blender- not to mention the horrendous pain in his foot

What a day....

"Are five popsicles enough?" Derek called from the kitchen

"Should be," Stiles called back, shifting again on the couch and sighing quietly

He sort of zoned out for a minute after that, just trying to process everything that was weighing on his mind

"Hey,"

He blinked, jerking up and swallowing as he stared at the werewolf in front of him

"H-Hey... thanks," he croaked quietly, taking the cup and swallowing anxiously, taking the straw in his mouth and sucking up the cherry- nice!- slushie with a quiet groan

"Ohh yeah... that's the stuff,"

Derek gave a quiet chuckle, looking down at the ground and biting his lip for a short moment

"Hey... why don't you sit down dude? Watch some Nightmare Before Christmas with me," he insisted, nodding towards the couch in encouragement

Derek seemed hesitant, taking a step closer without actually sitting down

"C'mon, I'm not made of glass, you aren't going to break me just by sitting on the same peice of furniture with me,"

Derek smiled shyly, apparently finally deciding that Stiles was right and moving to sit on the couch next to him as he nursed the herbal-laced slushie

"I love this movie," Stiles said with a soft sigh, leaning over and resting his head against Derek's shoulder

Nightmare Before Christmas combined so many of his favorite things, Tim Burton, Halloween, skeletons, Disney, and so, so much more... but most of all it cleverly combined his two favorite days of the year: Halloween and Christmas

"Yeah, it's a pretty good movie, I'm a pretty big fan of it myself," Derek agreed with a small nod

Stiles took in a slight hiss of a breath as he drank down another long sip of the drink, his foot was starting to tingle, meaning the healing was taking place, and thank _God_ for that

"Are you um.... starting to feel any better?" Derek asked quietly

Stiles smiled slightly, kind of endeared by how concerned Derek was

The werewolf had been reluctant to leave his side for even a second and was taking fussing over him to a new level, it was... actually really sweet

"I am yeah, thanks for asking, it'll take another hour or so for the medicine to fully kick in after I drink it all but ... it shouldn't take that long afterwards,"

Derek nodded slowly, turning his attention towards the TV- or atleast pretending to, he sucked at pretending, it was pretty obvious that he was still keeping an eye on Stiles' foot, like it would somehow get worse if Derek wasn't staring at it or something

"You punish yourself too much," Stiles sighed, yanking on the wolf's body and manhandling him until he was laying on the couch, Stiles' arms around his torso and his bad leg resting over Derek's hip

"I need to keep it elevated,"

It was, as Stiles sucked up another gulp of his slushie and leaned over Derek's head to watch the movie, that something occured to him

He was _spooning_ him

....

Well, there was no need to verbalize that, Derek wasn't moving, Stiles CERTAINLY wasn't moving, it could just stay one of those silent things that happened that was never discussed again

He'd be ok with that

 

~+~

 

Stiles woke up to the sound of his phone ringing, a quiet groan in his throat as he reluctantly peeled his eyes open

At some point nearing the third act he had dozed off, and considering how Derek was grumbling next to him about the noise of the phone the werewolf must have too

Looking up at the TV and seeing that they were about half-way through Paranorman, he came to the frustrating realization that their "dozing off" had taken _atleast_ an hour, probably more

The ringing of his phone jerked him out of the stupor he was in, and he hurried to fish his phone out of his pocket- oh hey, his foot stopped hurting, nice-

"Hello?" he half-mumbled, half-yawned into the phone

Derek, for his credit, was still mostly asleep, now that the blasted phone had stopped ringing he could just close his eyes peacefully and fall back to dreamland...

Atleast, until he heard the low and panicked _"What!?"_ from the witch next to him, that had his eyes snapping open pretty quickly

"Yeah... yeah ok, ok, I'll be there in fifteen minutes, just hold down the fort for me and banish Liam to the backroom so he can take care of some of the cleaning and stuff that needs to be done back there, don't let anyone near that half, I'll be right there," he rushed, turning his cellphone off and tumbling over Derek to get off of the couch

"What's going on?" the wolf asked anxiously, hurrying to stand up as well

"Liam is like a bull in an antique store, that's what's going on, he nocked over an ENTIRE. CABINET. of herbs! An entire cabinet! Do you KNOW the level of mess that is!?"

"I imagine alot..."

"Yeah... yeah to put it mildly, listen, thanks for helping with my foot, I'm sorry this got cut short- ... ish...- but I HAVE to go," he hurried out, racing towards the door

"Let me drive," Derek offered, causing Stiles to stop long enough to stare curiously at the wolf

"I want to come and help so just let me drive,"

"Derek-"

"We're wasting time,"

That seemed to be just enough motivation to get Stiles moving again, and in seconds they had left the house, both rushing towards Derek's car- it would be _much_ faster than the jeep

 

~+~

 

Six hours

It had taken them SIX. HOURS. to clean up the mess Liam had made- not to mention to replace the stock of herbs that had been wasted on the floor

(Stiles was devastated, the financial loss was going to be fairly big and with Halloween right around the corner he was already stressed to the brim without that adding to it, Derek made a mental note buy the most obnoxiously overpriced thing in the store when Stiles wasn't there so he could atleast help him recoup the money lost on the herb cabinet)

Now it was long after closing, they were both sore and exhausted and mentally wiped, and Derek knew with almost complete certainty that Stiles wasn't going to be eating anything if he was left to his own devices

Most likely, Stiles was just going to go home and go straight to bed, wich, wile Derek understood needing the sleep, was definitely not the best idea

All Stiles had consumed all day- to Derek's knowledge- was half a coffee and a cherry slushie

(Don't ever let it be said that because Derek was a baker with a sweet tooth the size of pangea, he didn't care about health and nutrition)

So Derek had invited Stiles over to have something to eat and Stiles, being too tired to argue, had actually agreed

Now they were trudging towards the door of Derek's apartment, each of them utterly exhausted and feeling nearly sick to their stomachs, partly from the exhaustion and lack of food yes, but also partly because some of those herbs were never meant to be inhaled in large doses

All he knew was that if he started seeing spots or cheorographed musical numbers with elephants he was calling the hospital

(Or Laura, more likely, most likely Laura)

Derek also had a pretty good feeling that he would be making soup...

Just after they tumbled into his apartment, with Derek mumbling that he was going to get them both some water to rehydrate themselves, Stiles decided to take the opportunity to slouch down against the door and groan

"A question... how many werewolves live in this building?" he mumbled

"Honestly? I never bothered to count..." Derek muttered back, rubbing his eyes as he headed to the kitchen

"Are there alot?"

".. A.. fair number, I wouldn't necessarily say 'alot', why?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how high the chances are that the people talking about us across the hall know I'm eavesdropping,"

Derek frowned, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he started to fill up the kettle with water, some hot chocolate would do them good after such a heroing evening

"The people next door are Allison and Lydia, they won't know, but you shouldn't be eavesdropping,"

"Well they shouldn't be talking about us! The words 'Stiles', 'Derek', and 'sex' have all come up in the same sentence, just so you know,"

Derek practically dropped the kettle on the counter, hurrying over to where Stiles was by the door

"And by the way, for a building full of werewolves, these are _very_ thin walls, have you considered thickening them?"

Derek rolled his eyes, gently pushing the witch aside and pressing his ear to the door

Apparently that had been all it took to get his attention

"Do you hear anything?" Stiles asked quietly, trying to keep his voice low

Derek frowned at him, shushing him quietly and clearly trying to concentrate

It was times like these that Stiles wished he had werewolf powers instead of magic, magic could do alot of things but enhancing senses typically wasn't one of them

Sure with alot of skill and maybe some potions he could _slightly_ increase his senses but that would take time and it wouldn't be nearly as good as a wolf's ear

Magical enhancements worked better for things like increasing energy, strength, and speed, typical boosters, not so much things like hearing or sight, wich was ... well, unfortunate

"I don't believe this," Derek muttered, catching Stiles' attention again

"What? What is it?"

"They're betting on us..."

"What do you mean _betting on us_? Betting on us to ... what? Win a horse race?"

"Betting on us to _have sex_ ," Derek snorted back

There was a breif pause, a moment of .. trying to process that... before Stiles finally answered with a loud, resounding _"What!?"_

"Shh!" Derek frowned, shifting to press his back against the door and staring up at Stiles with a slightly irritated look on his face

"Maybe that was a bit _strong_ of me to say, they're betting that we'll be dating by Halloween, specifically, the _actual bet_ is on who's going to ask who out, but believe me, there was enough sex talk for it to be essentially the same thing, Allison is convinced it'll be me, Lydia is convinced it'll be you, the stakes are their wedding venue,"

Stiles was pretty sure he should be insulted by all of this but he was almost flattered that they both actually thought he and Derek were anywhere in throwing distance of being in the same league

"They're really betting on us getting together?"

"They seem quite sure,"

"Wow," Stiles mumbled, slowly sinking down to sit against the door next to Derek

"Yeah... wow,"

There was a short, quiet pause before Stiles started again

"You know, we shouldn't let them get away with this,"

"What do you suggest we do? Confront them?"

"Oh no no no no, I have a MUCH more fun plan in mind than confronting them, we're going to shipbait them,"

Derek tilted his head, confusion clear on his face

"Shipbait?"

"Yeah, you know, shipbait, hasn't there ever been a couple on TV or in a movie that you just KNOW are going to get together- like, they HAVE to because it's THAT obvious- and then they don't?"

"I don't get that caught up in-"

"Derek," Stiles frowned sternly

Derek squinted, nose twitching slightly

"Dean and Castiel..."

"Mmmmm, going for a classic, good choice, ok, so, that's shipbaiting, making you feel like two people are going to get together- putting in ALL of the signs that they will- and then not doing it,"

"That's what we're going to do to Lydia and Allison?" Derek asked in confusion

"Pretty much yeah, we're going to pretend we're not dating but make them THINK that we are by doing all kinds of romantic things like holding hands and having dinner together in a romantic place and stuff, it'll drive them CRAZY,"

"That's a good idea Stiles but it has one flaw: We're not actually dating,"

Stiles' mouth opened, a slightly devastated look on his face before closing his mouth and clearing his throat, nodding slowly and licking his lips

"Yeah that... that would punch a hole in the plan, sure, with certainty, but I mean minus the 'pretend we're not dating' part the point is, we trick them, make them think they're gonna win a bet that they're going to fail at, it'll be perfect,"

"Sounds about right," Derek agreed

There was a long, extended beat of silence, neither of them saying anything, just... sitting there and staring at the floor

"Does it feel like we're dating?" Stiles finally asked, breaking the growing tension in the room

"I... think it does," Derek confirmed

Things went quiet again, though it was only for a moment this time

"SHOULD we be dating?" the wolf asked

"I... do you WANT to be dating?"

"Do YOU want to be dating?"

"I asked you first,"

"Really? Is this what we're doing right now?" Stiles huffed

Things fell back into silence, before finally Derek spoke again

"I... yes, I do,"

"Good," Stiles said quickly, taking a long, shaking breath

"I.. want to too,"

"So... we're dating now?"

"Yeah, yeah we... we are,"

"Then... we're going to pretend we're not dating so that we can fool Allison and Lydia?"

"Yep,"

"And pretend that we _just_ started dating on November first?"

"That's the plan,"

"That's really convoluted...."

"Pretty much,"

They both went quiet again, before Stiles finally broke the silence again

"I think we should kiss, should we ki-"

Derek was leaning over and pressing his lips against the witch's so fast that Stiles didn't even have time finish his question

_Good_

He let out a slight shudder, chills forming over his skin as he wrapped his arms around Derek's neck and hugged him closer, his nails scraping gently against the wolf's shirt as he leaned backwards

Evidently, the soft, somewhat shy werewolf Stiles had come to adore was not _nearly_ as soft or shy when it came to kissing

Derek's hand cupped his face, keeping the witch held still as their lips practically bruised eachother, teeth reaching out to scrape and bite against flesh and sucking red marks against eachother's mouths

It was safe to say the awkwardness had definitely dispersed

 

~+~

 

"Thanks again for this Derek,"

"What are freinds for?" the werewolf shrugged back with a shy smile, carefully sliding the upside down cup across the floor and towards the peice of papper Kira was holding

This had become something of a routine job for Derek around the building: Catching spiders

Not that he _always_ did it

...

Just, you know, _usually_

And believe him, it wasn't because most of his neighbors were incapable of catching their own spiders- just that Derek apparently "has a way with them" and "catches them easier than anyone else"

He wasn't sure if he believed that but he had lost the ability to tell them no a long time ago

"There we go, got it," Derek said with a slight smile once the papper was securely over the opening of the cup, allowing him to carry it safely outside without a risk of the spider getting out

"Thanks, I don't know why spiders freak me out so badly but ... they just do," Kira smiled back a bit awkwardly, opening the door for him

"You don't have to keep thanking me Kira, I really don't mind, besides, this was our deal, I take care of the spiders, you take care of the snakes,"

Not that he was very likely to have a snake infestation but one never knew, and besides, it was good to have a backup plan in case he SHOULD ever encounter snakes somehow

"You're still coming over tonight for Supergirl aren't you?" Kira asked as Derek stepped out of the apartment

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he smiled back, giving a polite nod to her as he walked out, almost running into another packmate in the process

"Oh, hey Isaac,"

Isaac gave him a polite but dismissive wave, stepping up to Kira's apartment and waiting until Derek was already in the elevator before tapping on the kitsune's door

"Oh! Hey Isaac, did you need something?" Kira asked upon opening the door

"Sort of, I just wanted to ask you something, you're going to see Derek again later right?"

"Yeah, to watch Supergirl, why?"

The beta smirked, leaning against the doorframe and tilting his head against his arm

"Allison needs a favor,"

 

~+~

 

"What!? What do you mean you're busy!?"

"Look, I'm sorry son, but I've got a meeting tommorrow morning, you can drive yourself to the chiropractor, it isn't that far off,"

"It isn't about that! You know I have ... _issues_!"

Severe medical phobias actually, and he didn't care that there was nothing scary about going to a chiropractor, or that getting his spine adjusted actually felt almost good, being there _alone_ was freaking terrifying!

"Stiles... you've been going there for a year, aren't you comfortable _yet_?"

"Phobias don't _get_ comfortable," Stiles argued back

His father sighed lowly, massaging his temples and leaning back in his chair

"Why don't you ask someone else to take you up there then?"

"Scott has classes in the mornings...."

"I didn't mean Scott, I meant.... what about Derek? You two seem pretty close, I'm sure he wouldn't mind,"

Stiles' shoulders sagged, a pout forming on his lips as he stared at the sheriff, blinking at him in the cutest, most puppy-eyed way he could imagine

"But... Daddy.... I don't want to ask Derek... I mean after the shoe incident I kinda don't want to gamble with our freindship any more than I already have,"

"Son, I'm sure he won't mind, but I HAVE to go to this meeting, just ask him,"

Stiles still looked like he had dropped his ice cream cone, but grumbled something under his breath and huffed, turning his back on the sheriff

"Fine, fine, I'll ask Derek, but you're getting nothing but kale salads for the next three days!!" he huffed, marching out of the station

The sheriff sighed, rubbing his eyes and glancing up at the deputy bringing him coffee

"This breakfast buffett better be as good as you say it is Parrish, I'm already practically _made_ of kale,"

"Trust me, it's _Lydia_ remember? Does she ever do anything that isn't perfect?"

 

~+~

 

"Is Derek here?"

"And hello to you too," Malia snorted

"Sorry, just-"

"We know, we know, you're looking for Derek, unfortunately he isn't here right now, he and Kira are out delivering a cake, but if you want to actually buy something, Erica and I are here,"

He nodded slowly, glancing down at the floor

He had gotten so used to Derek being here that he hadn't even thought of what he would do if Derek, you know, _wasn't_

"Um.... yeah, go ahead and give me an apple turnover- please, I'll just... talk to Derek later,"

Malia gave a curt nod, heading to the end of the case and sliding the door open to get the pastry

"Or you could just wait here for him, he should be back soon,"

Stiles really shouldn't- he really, _really_ shouldn't, he had to get to work, and he needed to hold his ground

He would talk to Derek later, no problem

"I think I'll just talk to him later, I have to go to work," he replied with a small shrug

Malia looked like she was about to say something else when the doors in the back suddenly swung open, Erica rushing out and leaning over to wisper something in Malia's ear

Ahh what Stiles would give for werewolf hearing right about now...

"Actually Stiles, how would you like to get this turnover for free?" Malia asked suddenly

Stiles squinted, pursing his lips

"You aren't propositioning me are you?"

"No!" Malia huffed, wrinkling her nose as if she were absolutely disgusted at the very thought

_WELL then..._

"Actually, we have a job for you, if you can keep your mouth shut about it,"

"Yeaaah, because that doesn't sound illegal at ALL,"

"What Malia MEANS to say is... we have a job for you to do, if you're interested in earning your wage in pastries and can put a little magicy elbow grease into it," Erica corrected with a flirtatious smirk

"Uh-huh.... and what am I putting this magicy elbow grease into exactly?"

The look that was exchanged between Erica and Malia made something small and scared inside of Stiles weep

 

~+~

 

"So, are either of you actually going to tell me how you broke the freezer?" Stiles asked as he wiped his hands off on the spare apron hanging on the coat rack

(He hoped that whoever later claimed that apron wouldn't be too annoyed that it was already a little stained)

"There's no need to have that conversation, and who said WE broke it? It could have died of natural causes!" Erica insisted

"Right, wich is why I'm supposed to keep this a secret from Derek," Stiles frowned blandly

"Do you want the free pies or not?" Malia interrupted

Stiles sucked on his lip, giving a slight shrug

"Yeah.... yeah the pies would be good, thanks,"

He figured he should just take what he could get and be happy with that, it was clear the girls weren't actually going to tell him anything else

"We only have two apple made, do you want to wait on more or just have a blueberry tossed in?"

"Blueberry, I REALLY need to get to work,"

He shouldn't have taken a half hour away to begin with but... well.... _pie_

Ofcourse, it was his luck that _just_ as he was walking out, the door opened.... and Derek and Kira walked in

"Stiles? What were you doing in the back?" Derek asked with confusion

Oh great, this was great, he had been dating Derek for a matter of _days_ and was already tempting the boundaries of trust, freaking perfect!!

"Um-"

"He was helping us," Malia said quickly

"He was tasting some of our new cupcakes," Erica added

"You know? The ones with the butterscotch filling we told you about? He came in looking for you and we decided to use him as a guinia pig,"

Derek only looked slightly skeptickal, so Erica must be better at lying than Stiles ever gave her credit for

"Right..." the werewolf said slowly

"Hey Stiles, didn't you have something you wanted to ask Derek?" Malia interjected suddenly, wich both gave him a much needed reminder... and an easy out of Awkward Town

"R-Right! Hey, so, I need a favor?"

Derek looked more curious about that than put-off so.... that had to be a good sign, right?

 

~+~

 

"Thanks again for this, I really appreciate it,"

"Dude, don't worry about it, I owe you one after you took me to the chiropractor earlier,"

"That was no problem," Derek shrugged back, staring in minor frustration at the box

"And this is no problem for me, trust me, I love Halloween decorating more than anything on earth, you're practically treating me to a date here,"

"Wow, good to know how low your standards are," Derek teased playfully, watching Stiles as he connected the wires between the top and bottom halves of the animatronic

Seriously, how did someone get so good at this...?

"Oh ha ha," Stiles snorted, smiling slightly and reaching down to pet Willow on the head as the little dog sniffed at his hand

"I really do appreciate this though, I have no idea where to put all of this stuff,"

Laura still thought it was _hilarious_ that he had bought outdoor decorations when he didn't have an _outdoors_ to decorate

Sure he could TECHNICALLY decorate outside since Laura owned the building but it didn't seem fair to decorate the outside of the building without everyone being able to pitch in with decorations of their own and ... that was just a can of worms he didn't want to open

Especially with the knowledge that the last time the entire pack had tried to decorate something it had begun with Brett thinking it was _hilarious_ to add a peeing cardboard Santa, wich inevitably lead to a competition between he and Erica over who could be more obscene

Derek had had to BEG Laura to shut them down before one of them somehow found a poster of elves having sex or something to hang up...

_Never. AGAIN._

"Derek?"

He blinked, coming back to the moment and clearing his throat

"Right, sorry," he mumbled shyly

"I can't imagine how we're going to fit all of this in the apartment..."

"Oh believe me, I've done alot more with alot less,"

Derek found that pretty hard to believe, but he trusted Stiles, if he was confident then Derek was too (mostly)

"Just you watch Derek Hale, I'm gonna have this place looking like a haunted mansion in no time!"

Derek chuckled softly, shaking his head and setting the screwdriver he had been using on the coffee table, grabbing a set of batteries to put in the gargoyle he was working on

"It'll be alot better next year when the house is done, you'll _really_ have alot of space to work with then,"

Stiles paused, looking up at Derek with amazement

"You... you're going to want to help me with your house?" he asked quietly

"Well... yeah, it'd be rediculous not to, that would be like knowing a carpenter and not asking them to help rennovate the house,"

"You seriously think that highly of me?" Stiles asked in amazement

Derek looked sincerely confused that he would even need to ask that

"Ofcourse I do, why wouldn't I? You're the king of Halloween,"

"Ahh yes, I, Jack, the Pumpkin King," Stiles chuckled

"Tell me you don't grow tired of the same old thing," Derek smirked back

And that right there would have been more than enough to prompt Stiles to date the hell out of this man

(You know if they weren't already dating ofcourse)

"You're amazing, do you know that?" he laughed, leaning over and giving him a soft kiss

"What? Why?"

"Shhh, just enjoy the compliment," Stiles insisted with a smirk, kissing him again before reluctantly going back to screwing the lid to the battery compartment back onto the animated candy bowl Derek had bought

(He really HAD gone kind of crazy in that store...)

"Has it occured to you that perhaps you compliment me too much?" Derek asked with a smirk

"Um, NO, you deserve ALL of the compliments, every single last one of them, and I haven't even STARTED yet,"

"I just don't see what makes you think that," Derek said with an amused snort

"You wouldn't, the best people never see themselves as good," Stiles shrugged, his eyes flicking down for a breif moment as he stared down at the batteries in his hands

His thoughts were distant now, far away, like he had gotten lost in a moment that wasn't there

Derek recognized that look, he knew it came across his own face often enough...

"That's... a really accurate saying, honestly,"

"Yeah," Stiles nodded, rolling the batteries along in his hand for a moment before prying the cover off of the battery compartment to a little robotic crawling hand

"My mom used to say it... she loved that saying... she loved Halloween too, it was her favorite holiday... her THING you know? I mean it was such a big deal that she even let me stay home from school on Halloween and the day after, so I could actually, you know, ENJOY my candy and trick-or-treating... we'd stay up all night and watch horror movies... it was always the best time of year, after she died... I still stayed home every Halloween, but .. my dad never did go for the 'two days off school' thing so ..."

"My mom always let us stay home on Halloween, but she never went for two days either," Derek said with a slight chuckle, leaning against the coffee table and handing Stiles the screwdriver

"Halloween was always such a special thing in our family.... it's still special now but just... in a different way, it's obviously still a special thing for you, what about your dad?"

"He never got much into it, but he helps me decorate and celebrate because he knows how much it means to me, then we recruited Scott and... now you, I mean, if you... want to keep doing it in the future ofcourse,"

"Ofcourse I want to, I'd be honored to," Derek said with quiet sincerity

He was amazed that Stiles was letting him have something so fragile and precious to him, that he was allowing him into this part of his life, and it wasn't an opportunity that Derek wanted to risk wasting

Unfortunately, it seemed that their conversation was doomed to come to a close faster than he had hoped, given the sudden nocking on his door

"Sorry," Derek frowned, rising up from where he had been sitting and making his way to the door

"Don't worry about it," Stiles shrugged back, screwing the last decoration back together and setting it down as he heard the door open

"Laura sent me, annual costume call," Braeden said simply, leaning against the door frame

"I haven't decided yet," Derek frowned, giving a slight sigh

"Again huh?"

The wolf just shook his head, a look of clear displeasure on his face

"Alright, well, just so you know, time is ticking down, you know what happens if you don't atleast have an idea soon,"

"I know I know.... tell Laura I'll see her later for dinner,"

Braeden gave an only slightly dismissive nod before turning on her heel and heading out again, giving Derek the opportunity to shut the door behind her and sigh again as he made his way back towards Stiles

"Sooo... not to be intrusive, but what the hell was that about?"

"Just... this stupid tradition, everyone has to have a costume by the twenty-fifth or Laura picks one out for you and _trust me_ when I say you don't want that in your life,"

"Well THAT sounds humiliating and invasive,"

Not that Stiles was trying to tell anybody how to run their pack or anything- except Scott every now and then but to be fair, he's still kind of new at the Alpha thing ... eight years later...- but from the standpoint of a Halloween junkie that was a little personal

And by "a little personal" Stiles meant _rude_

"She doesn't intend it that way, it's just... when we were kids my mom used to do that, it wasn't to be invasive, but ... sometimes for whatever reason people would end up not having a costume for Halloween and it felt _terrible_ to be left out that way... we'd always have a big pack party right between trick-or-treating and our annual run and everyone- even my grandparents- would dress up, if you didn't have a costume you'd feel-"

"Left out..."

_Oh_

"Exactly, it happened to me one year when I was a teenager, long... boring story, but if my mom hadn't had her safety net in place I would have been miserable on Halloween, it comes from a good place, the difference is though, that my mother actually had _good_ taste, _Laura_ got her sense of style out of a cereal box, she doesn't do it to be humiliating, she just legitimately doesn't know any better,"

"Well... sounds to me like you'd better get to costume hunting,"

"I've BEEN costume hunting... since _September_ ,"

Yeah that.. that couldn't be a good sign....

"Have you tried my store?"

"Yeah, last week, the day I brought you the homemade doughnuts,"

Ah... that had been a good day for Stiles.......

"You didn't find _anything?_ Dude, I respect the right to be choicey about Halloween costumes more than anyone, but we have a freaking HUGE selection-"

"It isn't just about finding something I LIKE, it's about.. finding something that fits... and doesn't make me feel... humiliated...."

Stiles could understand that, to a point

He had gone through a really awkward phase when he was fourteen where he was the tallest kid in his class but still so skinny that his shirts were either falling off of him or too short to be appropriate

It hadn't been a fun experience

"I get that, Halloween costumes really don't do much tailoring, generally speaking, if you don't fit a certain size standard you just don't fit, but.... can I ask, what makes you feel humiliated?"

"I'm honestly not all that sure how to explain it... I guess just that... some things make me feel like a walking joke, even if that really isn't the intention of the costume, like... I don't know.... exposed, in a way,"

He understood that, sort of, that was the reason he didn't wear tight clothes, he always felt too exposed in them

"I get it, you don't need to explain anything else, do you atleast have any ideas for what you might like?"

"Not really," he confessed with a slight sigh

"I feel like I have ... costume writer's block or something,"

"Well I've never heard it put like that but I actually do know what you mean," he noted with a slight grin

Stiles had been through those years too, when it just had been difficult to think of something he actually _wanted_ to wear

It **_sucked_**

"I'm going to just have to settle for something sooner rather than later so Laura doesn't get another wild hair and dress me as a mob boss or something again,"

Actually, Stiles kinda would've liked to see that...

But that's hardly the point, no one should be forced into a Halloween costume they don't _love_ and Stiles didn't want Derek to just throw a dart at something and go with it

Luckily, Stiles was a pretty creative person and had an idea forming in his mind

"Hey Derek? How much do you trust me?"

"I... trust you alot, why?"

"If I told you I was going to get you the PERFECT costume and you just needed to give me two weeks to do it, would you trust me?"

He could see the confusion and hesitation flash across Derek's face, brow pinching in thought as he shifted his weight

"I'd be a tad skeptickal but.... if you're REALLY sure..."

"Positive,"

"Then... I trust you,"

Stiles grinned brightly, eyes practically shimmering as he leaned up and gave Derek a soft, chaste kiss

"You won't regret it, promise,"

 

~+~

 

The loud, obnoxious nocking is what ultimately caused him to take the earbuds out of his ears, a frown on his face as he stepped towards the door and stared through the peephole

"Stiles?" he asked in confusion, unlocking the door for his boss and hurrying to open it

"Hey, Corey, listen, I know we don't know eachother _that_ well or anything, but... you can sew right?"

"Yeah... kind of..."

"Well, I have it on good, Mason-related authority that your 'kind of' is my 'Project Runway', so, how would you like to earn an extra two week's pay doing a little favor for me?"

Corey didn't know what kind of favor Stiles wanted, but he knew Stiles well enough by now to know that he should be afraid of whatever it was

 

~+~

 

"Ok, you're going to have to repeat this, because I don't think I actually understood.... you want me to make a cake for a _wolf_ , not a werewolf, just.... a regular wolf who lives at the Beacon Hills zoo, is that right?"

"No no, no no, we already have the nutritionalists at the zoo making Shadow's cake, I meant I want you to make a cake for Shadow's birthday party for _people_ , you know, the staff and some visitors, so we can have a little celebration near the wolf exhibit, it's a special occassion,"

Somehow, Derek just didn't believe that this was something the Beacon Hills Zoo And Aquarium was doing just because their wolf was having a birthday

As a matter of fact, he sincerely questioned if the zoo even knew Isaac was pulling this stunt in the first place

"Right," he said slowly, dryly

"I don't recall the zoo _usually_ hosting these kinds of birthday parties, why is this one so special?"

Usually the only parties like these that got hosted were for fund raising or when an especially endangered or special animal had a baby at the zoo, the wolf pups born last year had been cause for such occassion, but normal birthdays?

"Yeah, well, it's a milestone birthday for a wolf,"

"Oh yeah? And what milestone would that be?"

And this, judging by the unprepared look on Isaac's face, is where the lie began to crumble

"Um.... four?"

"Riiiiiight..... and, let me guess, Stiles is, for some reason, going to be at this little party?"

Isaac snorted, a look of- what Derek assumed to be- indifference on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest

"I don't know, why would I _care_? I'm just asking you to make a wolf cake,"

Right, and Derek was _sure_ that Allison and her endless persuasion had nothing to do with this

But he'd let Isaac live in the dellusion for now

"Right..... chocolate or vanilla?"

"Chocolate,"

 

~+~

 

"Scotty, I don't have time to go to the zoo, as much as I want to- and believe me, I want to- it's the middle of October, I can't ditch work until November, seriously, I'm swamped,"

Scott frowned, but he knew Stiles had a point

Even though the place wasn't exactly _packed_ , there was a steady stream of customers now, and between both halves of the store he was usually kept pretty busy these days

But he wanted the new motercycle helmet Lydia had promised him and if he had to get Stiles to the zoo to accomplish that goal then he would _get_ Stiles to the zoo to accomplish that goal, plain and simple

"What if I found someone to cover for you?"

"Someone who knows how to handle the responsibilities of the _owner_? For _both_ stores? Sure, if you can find me that magical unicorn of a person then I'll go to the zoo, I'll got _Mars_ for all I care, what will it matter at that point anyway?" Stiles snorted back

"It wouldn't have to be someone who can run the place, you can put Mason in charge and I'll just get someone who can temp as a cashier, how hard can it be for a _day_?"

Stiles gave him a look- an "I can't believe you just said that, you hilarious, hilarious, but ignorant man" look- and shook his head slowly

"I'm serious! Look if I can get a temp cashier for you will you go?"

Stiles sighed quietly, putting the last of the new skeletons up where they belonged and standing up

"Yes Scott, if you can get me a temp cashier for Thursday on _this_ short notice, I'll go to the zoo,"

It was a good thing Scott knew people who owed him favors...

 

~+~

 

Incidentally, Scott DID find him a temp for Thursday, somehow, in a way that Stiles still couldn't quite understand

But who cared? Now he and Derek were getting what amounted to a free zoo date because Allison and Lydia liked to meddle

_Perfect_

"So... can I ask you a question?"

It was about an hour through their day, walking along the pathway towards the elephants, Stiles was finishing off a cup of Dip N' Dots and Derek waiting on standby to aim his camera and snap as many pictures as he could at Stiles' command

(Because apparently Derek was a pretty good photographer, who knew?)

And, because apparently Stiles couldn't get through a few hours of being a normal person without making things uncomfortable, he let his mouth get away from him

"Hey, so, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Derek glanced at him from behind his sunglasses- sidenote: Stiles had never seen Derek in sunglasses before, it was cute- and shrugged

"I guess so?"

"Well, it's just... you know why I have my career, you know, presumably, but ... how come you decided to own a bakery? Just out of curiosity,"

"My mom and I always used to bake when I was a kid, when we moved away after the fire ... it was practically all I did, it was never really anything I planned on, you know? I never thought about doing it for work, never had any big dreams of owning my own bakery or anything, it just... happened, by the time we moved back here I had gotten pretty good at baking, and it was ALL I was good at, the building the bakery is in now happened to be for sale just a couple of months after we moved back and ... like I said, it just sorta happened,"

"Wow, talk about being different from my story," Stiles said with a snort as he leaned against the railing, peering across at the elephants as they walked about

"I take it you were planning your store for a wile?"

"Ohhhh yeah, this is a plan I've had since fifth grade, but between getting the money and finding the space and then doing the magic to split the store.... you can imagine it took me a wile,"

"I can imagine," Derek agreed with a nod, holding up the camera and doing.. something with it

Adjusting the lense? Zooming? Stiles wasn't really sure, he actually kinda sucked with cameras

"Can you do me a favor? Remind me when we get to the gift shop to pick up a plush elephant for Allison, she's practically obsessed with them,"

"O-Oh... yeah, sure," he replied, a little taken aback by the request, he'd have to make sure he didn't forget that, not only would it suck to not be able to keep up with something Derek requested of him but Lydia would have his head on Allison's behalf....

"Hey... can I ask you another really personal question? Like... seriously personal,"

"Yes, but for future reference, you don't have to preface every personal question with 'can I ask you a personal question?',"

"Really?"

"Really,"

"Even if I asked you how big your jock strap is?"

".... Alright, that you can preface, but I have a feeling that isn't what this is about,"

Derek's feeling was correct, ofcourse it was

"Well... ok, I don't want this to come out wrong but ... I've kinda been .. wondering about something for a wile, and if it's too personal I'll understand, I just... guess I'm morbidly curious..."

"Stiles, what is it?"

Derek's tone was serious now- worried, and Stiles wanted to be quick to scrub that worry off of him, he didn't want Derek to think he had done something wrong or anything like that

"Well.... I remember the fire, I remember.. my dad investigating it, and ... all of the stuff that happened around it... I know Allison's aunt did it and I just was curious... how did you and Allison become so close after that? I mean, good on you, definitely, I sure as hell wouldn't have been able to do it so.... I guess.... I guess I'm just asking how you did it,"

It was a terrible thing to ask, and he had regretted it the second he even asked if he could ask it in the first place, but once it had gotten out of his mouth there was no taking it back....

"It... wasn't easy," Derek confessed with a slight shrug, moving a little bit closer and fidgeting with the strap of his camera

"I just had to finally learn how to reason with the fact that Allison isn't her aunt... or her grandfather... or her mother, she's her own person who doesn't need to be blamed for something that her family members did, she shouldn't be held accountable for her name, and besides, she never actually became a hunter anyway, it's... easier not to get past things knowing that, plus, she's my sister-in-law's partner, if I didn't grow to like her I'd have been turned into a rug,"

Stiles didn't know what answer he was expecting- actually, he didn't know if he was even expecting an answer at all, part of him sort of thought Derek was just going to brush him off- but it wasn't that

It wasn't something so... simple and soft

Stiles couldn't help it, he stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Derek and tugging him into a half-hug, not wanting to cause the wolf to accidentally drop his camera or anything by jostling him too much

"You are a good person Derek Hale,"

"No... I'm really not, not being a complete scumbag doesn't by default qualify me as a good person,"

Stiles frowned, eyes narrowing as he pulled back and stared up at the wolf

"Ok, first of all- _rude_ , I'll have you know that I HIGHLY doubt I could be so freindly with the relatives of someone who .. did everything that the Argents did, so don't say that's a scumbag thing because that's offensive to me as an apparent scumbag, second of all, you don't need to 'qualify by default', you qualify just by existing, you're a good person, I don't get why that concept is so hard for you to grasp,"

Derek looked... partly puzzled, partly disgruntled, like he wanted to argue but was too hung up with trying to figure out why Stiles was doing this to respond right away

Stiles figured it might be best to interrupt him before he really starts talking

"Derek, you're a good person, ok? Do you understand that? What do you need me to do to prove that to you? Get you to fill out an application to become a Disney princess? Because seriously, all you need is the dress at this point, you're already your own animal sidekick,"

"You've watched Moana too many times," Derek said with a smirk, leaning down to give Stiles a soft kiss on the forehead before leading him down the next few steps of the path

"C'mon, the meerkats are this way,"

Stiles knew what he was doing, ok?

He was trying to change the subject because he didn't want to talk about this- well too bad!

Stiles wasn't going to let him out of this without a change in his thought process

He was going to make Derek Hale believe in himself as a good person come hell or high water!

 

~+~

 

Incidentally, Stiles' attempts at to change Derek's mind about his non-existant status as a Good Person TM had lead to Derek inviting Stiles to stay over at his apartment that night

Stiles didn't really know _how_ that had happened and by the time he realized that the subject had been changed on him _again_ , it was really too late to start arguing about it- you know, again

But he wasn't going to give up, he'd prove Derek's worth to him one way or another, it'd just take a little bit of time and some more creative efforts

And in the mean time, the conversation hadn't exactly been much of a loss, they now had something of a standing "spend the night" invitation

Stiles found himself spending several nights in a row at Derek's, not doing anything other than talking and watching movies, a little baking here and there, and when Stiles eventually got tired enough to pass out, Derek helped him stumble to into the bedroom and they crashed in bed until the next morning

Stiles had even started leaving a few things there overnight, nothing major, just a few peices of clothing, a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a hairbrush, deoderant....

Actually... it might not be as few as he thought...

Oh well, the point remained, things were going really well

And Stiles was spending most of his time between work and Derek's, to the point that he was just sorta... going over without asking

They seemed to be at that special point in their relationship where he didn't actually need to call Derek ahead of time, he could just pop over whenever he wanted, it was kind of incredible

Plus, they had something of an unspoken standing invitation for Tuesday nights now, they watched American Horror Story together and ate pizza, it was great

So here Stiles stood, pouting up at Derek's door like a disgruntled child, and wondering why he wasn't answering the door

"Deeeeereeek.... I have Over The Garden Wall and Ben & Jerry's, it's gonna melt if you don't let me in!"

"You know he isn't home, right?"

Stiles jumped, spinning around on his heel and frowning at Malia as she adjust the groceries in her arms

"Yeah, wich is exactly why I was nocking on it and calling out to him,"

"Is he late for your date?" the coyote asked, not in the highscool gossip "I'm trying to imply" something way that Erica would make a remark like that in, but just... legitimately curious

Flatly and disinterestedly curious

"I... it's not a date, it's just... a .. an appointment,"

If possible, Malia just deadpanned at him harder

"Uh-huh, do you want to sit here until he gets back, or do you want to go get him to open the door so you can atleast have access to your freezer?"

"You know where he is?" he asked hopefully

Malia snorted, giving a half-eyeroll before nodding towards the elevator

He frowned slightly, but followed her anyway, stepping inside and adjusting his backpack over his shoulder, regretting more and more by the moment that he had chosen to just put the ice cream in his bag instead of bringing it in a grocery bag or something...

But in his defense he hadn't known he was going to have to be waiting out here instead of just getting into Derek's apartment immediately

Still, a lesson for the future....

The sound of rattling keys drew his attention away from his own thoughts, head tilting slightly in confusion as the elevator door opened and allowed the two of them to step out

"You live on this floor?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So how come you were up on Derek's floor?"

Derek was on the top floor of the three story apartment building, Malia would have had to come up intentionally...

"Well, I WAS about to go home when I heard you squawking and pounding on the door, I figured you'd only get louder if I didn't come up and stop you,"

Oh...

So if she had heard him from down here, why hadn't Derek?

He didn't even get the chance to ask that question out loud before the answer sort of... hit him in the face

A few doors down from the elevator, he could hear Lady Gaga blasting from one of the rooms

.... The room, incidentally, that Malia was walking towards....

"Oh please don't tell me..."

Surely enough, her key slid into the lock with ease and she pushed the door open, revealing... honestly, Stiles really wasn't that sure what the hell she had revealed

Gaga music poured out of the apartment and in the center were Cora, Erica, Kira, and Derek... doing yoga...

"Now come out of child's pose and transition to downward dog," Kira instructed from the front of the room, her voice quiet but crisp and clear, easily ringing out over the music despite not being loud enough to speak over it

And then, because this is his life, Stiles is forced to watch as Derek moves onto all fours and pushes his hips out and...

And that's Derek's butt alright, bubbled up under his yoga-pants-shouldn't-be-that-tight yoga pants, right in front of him

He wondered if werewolves could smell drool...

Did drool have a scent?

He only snapped out of his stupor when the music suddenly cut off, causing all four of the yoga-..sters? Yoga-users? Yoga-ers? Yoga folks... to turn their heads towards them

"Oh, hey Stiles," Derek said calmly, rising to his feet and stepping off of his yoga mat

The man was in a sweat-drenched loose tank top and yoga pants

His yoga mat was pink

Stiles was going to die

"I didn't hear you come in,"

"I was upstairs nocking on your door, but uh... guess you couldn't hear me over the Gaga,"

"Sorry," Derek pouted apologetically

"Don't apologize, it's ok, but uh... isn't yoga music supposed to be, you know, calming?"

"This IS calming to me," Erica huffed, having long since gotten out of her yoga pose and started walking towards them

"It was Erica's turn to pick the music," Cora provided as she started rolling up her yoga mat

"And besides, after Derek's fluffy puffy New Age music last week, we could all use the break," Erica added with a smirk, wich just made Derek look... kinda sad... a little pouty, actually

"Well I happen to like New Age music," he insisted with a frown, putting a comforting hand on Derek's back and patting gently, wich, thankfully, seemed to cheer him up atleast a little bit

"Do you now?" Erica smirked back

Stiles frowned, but decided not to say anything, smiling up at Derek instead and taking his hand

"C'mon Big Guy, we have horror to watch and ice cream to eat,"

Derek nodded slowly, moving to wrap up his yoga mat- _bending over_ because Stiles actually needed to see his butt even more, dear God....- before standing again

"Thanks again for the lesson Kira," he said politely, giving a wave as he headed back towards Stiles

"No problem! See you next week!" she beamed in turn, waving happily as the duo left and Malia hurried to close the door behind them, apparently wanting her apartment back

There was no doubt that whoever Malia's roommates _weren't_ , they were about to end up pushed out just like Stiles and Derek had

"Well, we certainly gave them something to talk about," Derek smirked

"Who do you think will tell Allison and Lydia about this first?"

"My money is on Erica but Isaac has been milking Kira for details lately without her quite noticing so it's a bit of a toss-up," Derek shrugged back, stretching a little as he started for the elevator, thus... walking in front of Stiles

....

Walking in front of Stiles in his sinfully tight yoga pants

Stiles was going to _die_

 

~+~

 

"What the hell are you taking to him?"

Derek glanced up from the bag he had just finished packing, tilting his head in confusion at Malia

"Um... lunch?"

By the look on her face, he figured she probably meant "What _kind_ of lunch?"

"It's a lean ham and cheese sandwich with a garden salad and carrot cake," Derek shrugged, watching the werecoyote's face contort in disgust

"Why don't you just go ahead and demote him to kale salads and frozen yogurt?"

"Believe me, that's coming, but I have to work at this slowly if I want him to actually eat it, I'm trying not to make it obvious, hopefully by the time he notices what I've done he'll be too dependent on me feeding him to really get out of it, sort of the same thing he does with his father but... tactfully,"

Malia tsked quietly, slowly shaking her head as she stared at the bag Derek was carrying towards the door of the bakery

"What did he ever do to deserve this?"

"Last night, last night is what he did," Derek frowned back, clearly serious about whatever he was going on about

"What? Kick you during sex?"

"We aren't having sex- ... no, no, he snuck into the kitchen when he thought I was asleep and made bacon JUST so he could slather it in Ranch dressing and eating it strip by strip, it was _DISGUSTING_ and he needs to make up for it by eating something atleast somewhat healthy for the next few days,"

"You're a very strict parent aren't you?" Malia asked flatly

Derek just rolled his eyes and shook his head, shutting the door behind him as he left the bakery and made his way to the Halloween store

 

~+~

 

"Hey Derek, Stiles' lunch?"

Derek gave a quick nod, not even bothering to stop at the counter at this point as he walked towards the back

Stiles was either in the other half of the store or in his office, given that Derek didn't-

"Um, you might not want to take that to him right now,"

Derek paused, frowning and wrinkling his nose as he turned around and stared at the woman behind the counter

"Ok... and why wouldn't I want to do that?"

"Because he's in the bathroom puking right about now,"

"What?! Why is he throwing up!?"

It was seriously lucky that the immediate area of the store was empty aside from himself and Hayden...

"Halloween is next week, his anxiety is out of wack, it happens every year since I've known him,"

Derek didn't waste any time after that, bolting past the displays and the customers and darting back into the bathroom, he didn't even hear what Hayden said when he left

" _Every year_...."

He should have known, he should have heard Stiles' distressed heartbeat from out here from the start, he just... hadn't even thought to listen for it, he had been too caught up in his excitement of wanting to see him, he supposed

Derek realized, as he slipped easily behind the wall and into the other store

He was actually relieved that there were no customers, just Stiles in the semi-private bathroom in the back where Derek could hear him groaning

"Stiles!" he shouted, hurrying to bang on the bathroom door

"Stiles it's me, open the door!"

 _"Go ... away Derek..."_ that was punctuated with a gag

"I'm not going anywhere, you're sick, I want to help," he insisted

_"No... don't.. don't want you to... see me like this...."_

"Stiles please... please just open the door, I just want to help..."

He listened as the witch gave some kind of wimpering groan, clearly unwell, and felt a breath of releif leave his lungs when he heard the slight ticking of the door unlocking, hurrying to push into the room and make his way over to Stiles

He didn't waste any time, dropping to the floor and reaching out to very gently start to rub his back, hoping that he was making things better by being here and not worse

"You shouldn't... be here..." he groaned, dry-heaving into the porcelain

"I'm your boyfreind, you're sick, ofcourse I'm going to be," Derek insisted, very gently placing a hand on his back and rubbing carefully

Stiles grumbled a little more, finally giving up on getting sick and leaning back against the wall, looking disshevled and exhausted

One thing was for sure, he'd have to help Stiles clean himself up a little before going letting him go back to work, he looked like hell warmed over...

"Sorry... I can't even eat what you brought me because I feel so freaking sick.."

Well that was ironic

"Don't worry about that, you can just eat later when you feel better, the important thing is that you start feeling better, Hayden said you get like this every year right before Halloween... I'm guessing it's stress related,"

Stiles sighed quietly, rubbing at his head miserably and leaning back against the wall

"Yeah... I'm a greatly stressed person to begin with but once October hits... it gets really intense, but there's nothing worse than the the last seven or eight days before Halloween, and basically the same amount of time before Christmas, I mean all of that will just.... massacre me stress wise,"

So he was going to go through this again in December?

Well.... not if Derek could help it

"Do you know of anything that can... help? Anything that can make you feel better...?"

"No," he sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly

"I don't, and believe me, I've tried,"

Derek wasn't satisfied with that answer, he couldn't imagine Stiles being sick like this for... what? Over a week?

"You're on your lunch break right?"

Stiles made a face- like even the THOUGHT of lunch was making him ill

"I will be in about five minutes,"

Derek smiled warmly, holding his hand out towards the witch

"I think I know of a way to help,"

 

~+~

 

"Now, return from tree pose, back to mountain pose,"

Stiles opened one eye, still sort of wobbling and trying to keep his balance as he glanced at the wolf next to him

"Wch one is mountain pose again?"

"Just standing still," Derek replied with the ghost of a smirk

"Oh," Stiles said quietly, nodding and finally (thankfully) putting his leg back down as he changed positions

"So... that was yoga huh?"

"Yeah, a very short, beginner's course but... yeah, that was yoga," Derek nodded back, stepping off of his yoga mat and bending down to start rolling it up

"I ... can't believe I'm saying this but I do actually feel a little better..."

"See? Yoga does marvelous things,"

"Or New Age music does wonders," he replied with a small smirk

Derek snorted, rolling his eyes playfully

"Yeah, if you want to keep feeling better, our regular yoga nights are Tuesdays at Malia and Erica's apartment, nine o'clock,"

Stiles smiled shyly, grabbing a towel from the back of the coach and wrapping it around his neck, he'd have to take a quick shower before going back to work, as it were, he was just glad he had kept some sweats at Derek's to use...

"You know," he said slowly, leaning up to give Derek a soft kiss

"I might just take you up on that,"

 

~+~

 

"I have something for you,"

Derek glanced up, blinking in surprise at Stiles' pressence

These days he was usually taking food to Stiles, he didn't see the witch at the bakery all that often

"You do?"

"Yeah, a couple of things actually, but first and foremost... ta-da!"

Derek felt his heart flutter as Stiles suddenly pulled a bouqet of roses out from behind his back, staring at them in amazement and reacting a little slower than he probably should have in actually taking them

"You... this ... you didn't have to do this..." he said quietly, but managed to reach out and take the flowers regardless

"I wanted to, you know... to say thank you for yesterday, and just because you deserve it," he replied with a small frown, biting his lip and shifting a little in his stance

"I brought something else too,"

"Stiles, you really didn't have to-"

"It's your Halloween costume,"

Oh... well, Derek supposed that was a little bit different...

"You have it here with you?" he asked with an excited smile

He hadn't said anything because he didn't want to rush Stiles, but he had really been excited for a wile now to see what his boyfreind had come up with

"Yeah, it's in the car, wanna come and see it?"

Derek's eyes lit up, grinning a little bit more and taking his apron off

"Kira! Can you-"

_"I'll cover the front,"_

He wasn't sure if she had heard their conversation from the kitchen... or if she was just used to him asking her by now

(He really hoped it was the former)

He rushed out from behind the counter, barely able to restrain his enthusiasum as he followed Stiles outside and waited impatiently by the car

Stiles smirked over his shoulder at him, opening the trunk and pulling out a suit bag

Derek watched with nearly held breath as Stiles unzipped it, revealing... a multi-colored patchwork suit....?

"It's Sally, from Nightmare Before Christmas? Only, you know, not a dress, because I don't know how you feel about crossdressing but but I thought this would be nice, so I had this made for you and a Jack costume made for me because I remember you saying how much you loved Sally and Nightmare Before Christmas was the first movie we ever watched together so it's special and... well.... do you like it?"

"Like it?" Derek asked quietly, a small, warm smile breaking out over his face as he leaned down and gave Stiles a tight, affectionate hug

"I _love_ it, thank you... thank you Stiles...."

This was one of the kindest, most meaningfull, special things anyone had ever done for him and Derek would probably wear this costume every year if he could

(But between Laura and Stiles he doubted that he'd be allowed to)

"So... matching costumes huh?" he asked belatedly, eyes twinkling with amusement

"Yeah, I mean, I figured, it's cute, it's coupley, and it'll really lay it on thick with Allison and Lydia,"

"Nice idea," Derek smirked, leaning down and giving him a soft kiss

"Glad you like it, but to be entirely honest... this wasn't the only reason I came to the bakery today,"

Derek pulled back, a bit of confusion on his face

"Really? What's the other reason?"

"I want a chocolate cupcake, you've been giving me stuff like muffins lately wich is ... fine, but I want a chocolate cupcake,"

Well.... so much for Derek's plan....

 

~+~

 

Halloween came almost too quickly after that

It felt like a blur, wich was common when it got this near to Halloween- sort of, in it's own way

Stiles was still kind of exhausted, even though he had calmed down quite a bit after Derek's helpfull yoga session

He had spent so much time between work and making sure that the house looked right, he had barely had time for anything else over the last few days

But now, everything he had been working towards for the past two months was coming to an end (well, a temporary end, it'd be back next year ofcourse) and it was just.... surreal

It was always surreal though, so that wasn't really a surprise

What WAS a surprise, however, was Derek pulling into the driveway three hours early with the suit bag in hand

"Need any help with anything?" he offered as he exited the car, suit bag slung over his shoulder

"Um ... yeah, actually, can you help me bloody up the yard? Just put your costume inside and grab a jug of blood, swish it around, anywhere and everywhere,"

"I can do that, is the door unlocked?"

"Yeah, just go in through the garage, you can hang the suit on the basement door if you want, keep it from getting all crinkly,"

Derek nodded, taking a step closer to Stiles and pausing behind him, just for a second, gathering his thoughts before speaking again

"Stiles?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have plans for .. after trick-or-treating?"

"Hm? Not really, I mean, just cleaning up and eating candy, why?"

"Well... I just wondered if you would be interested in coming on the run with my pack tonight... I mean... if you aren't busy with Scott's pack ofcourse...."

Stiles' mouth fell open, eyes wide and stunned by the offer

Had Derek... really just offered to take him on the run...?

It was a big enough deal that Derek had agreed to come over and help him hand out candy in the early evening but... the run?

According to everything he had said, Halloween traditions were sacred to Derek and his family, they were pack things, especially the run

Hell Stiles knew that MOST born supernaturals had special traditions for Halloween night, and most shifters did some kind of run or swim or.... thing....

To be invited... it was like being invivted into his family....

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure," Derek answered with certainty

Stiles gave a shakey breath, grinning nervously from ear to ear

"Witches don't really run you know,"

"Well then bring your broomstick and you can fly,"

Stiles barked out a slight laugh, leaning up and giving him a tight hug, kissing his lips with enthusiasum

"THAT I can do,"

 

~+~

 

Halloween had rushed by in as much of a blur as it had gotten there, and Stiles and Derek had had to take a real lesson in keeping their affection to themselves around the pack during their run

(Atleast it was only for one night...)

Now it was November 1st, Hocus Pocus was having a big clearance sale and everyone was tired and kind of sore from the previous night, and Stiles was just delighted that Scott had the day off and could help him with everything

"Just think about it! If Derek and I get married- and we so, so will- you and Laura will be like... co-Alphas to one big pack!"

Scott stared at him tensely, like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy about that or not

Scott never had been that thrilled with Alphahood, but he had also never exactly been good with following other people's leads and the thought of a second Alpha getting their paws in the mix probably wasn't very appealing to him

"Just take some time to get used to the idea, we probably won't even get engaged until Christmas," Stiles teased- well... mostly teased

"Uh-huh," Scott said slowly as Stiles opened the door to the bakery for him

"Stiles!" the witch heard, grinning and spinning around to meet Derek's eyes as the wolf headed towards him

"Hey! What're you doing out here?"

"Just got back from a delivery, are you here for lunch?"

"Ish, just getting a peice of cake or something, we're busy bees dealing with the post-Halloween sale,"

Derek looked ... unnerved by that, but Stiles wasn't quite sure why

Maybe he wanted him to eat lunch...?

"I spoke to Allison and Lydia earlier," he noted, opening the door for Stiles

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I told them we had our first kiss at two in the morning, they asked who asked who out first and I said it didn't happen that way, they both looked mildly devestated... and weirdly suspicious,"

"Well, the secret dies with me if it dies with you too," Stiles shrugged back, a small smirk crossing over his face as he looked forward

Scott was leaning over the counter, giving Kira his best "I'm trying to flirt but don't really know what I'm doing" face, and she was giggling and red in the cheeks...

Oh they were _so_ about to start dating

"How much you wanna bet they'll be a thing by the end of the month?" he asked quietly

Derek snorted, wrapping an arm around Stiles' shoulders

"First date by December first?"

"At the longest,"

"You're on, we'll talk stakes over lunch,"

Yeah.... this relationship was going to work out _quite_ well


End file.
